This isn’t justice: 7 star Jim Jefferies slams PM over Hamilton Island ADF helicopter crash tragedy

Comedian Jim Jefferies has expressed outrage at a decision by Commonwealth prosecutors not to lay charges against Defence over an army helicopter crash that killed his nephew and three other soldiers.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the tragedy that took the life of his nephew, Maxwell Nugent, an emotional Jefferies said the family was devastated and that it had been deprived of justice.

Lieutenant Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Phillip Laycock, Corporal Alexander Naggs and Captain Danniel Lyon were killed when a MRH-90 Taipan helicopter plunged into the waters off Hamilton Island in Queensland on July 28, 2023.

The aircraft was flying in formation with three other helicopters during Exercise Talisman Sabre.

On Thursday, Commonwealth prosecutors announced charges would not be laid over the crash, despite Comcare — the national authority for health and safety — finding breaches of workplace safety laws.

Jefferies, speaking from Hawaii, said the decision was a “complete kick in the guts”.

“We are just devastated,” he said.

The comedian, who hosts the 1% Club on Seven, said Lt Nugent’s death had been “incredibly tough” on his family.

“Initially, of course, it’s very hard losing a child, losing a nephew, losing a friend and everyone that was around Max and the other soldiers, it’s been a terrible time,” he said.

“Initially everyone was very ‘well get to the bottom of this’ and ‘we’re here for the family’ and people showed up at the family and what have you.

“Then the last two years has been my brother and my sister-in-law and my niece spending every bit of vacation they have going to the inquiry, having to listen to all of the different testimonies from everybody.

“And now to be told there won’t be any court proceedings, there will be no charges being put forward is terribly heartbreaking.

“And the fact they have only given us five days for Comcare to press charges, it seems like they’ve pushed it until now to make it very difficult for us.

“There’s been so much that hasn’t been answered.”

Jefferies questioned whether there had been a cover-up.

“If the Australian Government has nothing to hide why, as soon as the accident happened, did they decommission the Taipan helicopters, take them apart and bury them in the bloody desert?” he said.

“Because that doesn’t seem like something they have no problem with? If it was all the pilot, you’d keep those helicopters going, maybe give them to the Ukraine or something. But no, they got rid of them, it seems pretty shady to me.”

The grieving uncle said he did not believe “there has been justice”.

“I don’t believe there has been justice, at the very least, I believe we deserve our day in court,” he said.

“We deserve to hear what really happened, and you can’t just go ‘we don’t think these charges are worth setting, you have five days to press charges because in the two years the statute of limitations will be over. It’s a complete and utter joke.

“(Anthony) Albanese said to my other brother, he met him, and my brother went up to him as said ‘I’m the uncle of Max Nugent’ and Albanese looked him in the eye and said ‘we will get justice for your nephew’ and we don’t think we’ve even got close to to that, I don’t think we’ve got close to getting that for the other soldiers.”

Jefferies said “the four men deserve better.”

“And it’s clear to anyone that something fishy is going on,” he said.

“(They) decommission the helicopter, other countries weren’t flying in that weather, we have people who said the soldiers didn’t have enough sleep, we had someone who said the helmets would end in industrial manslaughter. These are the things we know, imagine the stuff we don’t.”

He added: “I I live here in America where I see all the time people say ‘I support your troops’ and one of them stands up at a baseball game and they all applause and salute.

“I always thought it was a little bit hollow, because there was all these homeless people, people with mental health conditions when they came back from war.

“And I always thought Australia did a little bit better than that.

“We don’t say we support our troops every day but when come Anzac Day we show up, we take the time off, we lay the wreaths, we show up for the dawn services.

“And that always meant something to me, but all these wreaths and all these words mean nothing if real justice isn’t actually going to be done.”

A Defence Flight Safety Bureau report found Captain Lyon and Lieutenant Nugent were fatigued at the time of flying, as they had been sleeping in tents at Proserpine Airport in the days prior and waited inside the aircraft for two hours before takeoff.

The investigation also assessed whether the TopOwl 5.10 helmet, criticised in test reports for its inverted pitch and roll displays when pilots turn their heads, contributed to the crash.

In a statement, a Comcare spokesman confirmed the “CDPP assessed briefs of evidence referred by Comcare” in relation to the incident.

“Following an application of the Prosecution Policy of the Commonwealth, the CDPP has determined that there is presently insufficient evidence to commence a prosecution based upon the evidence within the briefs that were referred to the CDPP,” he said.