A former government defense adviser who has said she was sacked for refusing to lie about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction took her claim of unfair dismissal to Australia's labor court yesterday.
Jane Errey, 43, who was dismissed earlier this month from the Defense Department where she was an adviser to former chief defense scientist Ian Chessell, lodged an unfair and unlawful dismissal claim with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission against the federal government.
If she wins, the court can order the government to pay compensation.
Errey, who wrote briefings for Defense Minister Robert Hill, claims she lost her job for refusing to write a briefing that she believed exaggerated details of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons cache.
Errey, who had access to secret intelligence on Iraq's weapon capabilities from two intelligence agencies, took annual leave the next day -- March 20, when the war in Iraq officially began -- rather than write the paper.
She was sacked on April 5 after more than nine years with the department.
The Defense Department claims Errey was sacked for failing to turn up for work.
"I am doing this for two reasons," Errey said yesterday. "On one level, I don't want to let Defense Minister Robert Hill make the statements he has about me, and on another it is also about the legality of the Iraq war."
Errey did not specify which Hill statements she had taken exception to.
The controversy parallels a British intelligence scandal involving the suicide of a senior defense scientist, David Kelly, in July last year. Kelly was publicly accused of telling the BBC that intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction had been "sexed up" to justify the war.
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