Login
iscover
Former Australian Special Forces team leader, now Kinetic Fighting founder, Paul Cale has levelled allegations of dodgy business dealings at the Australian Department of Defence.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Cale, who has overseen delivery of the Army Combatives Program and Individual Combat Behaviours training for the Australian Defence Force, was previously involved with the Australian Army for 30 years. A former member of the Special Forces, he served in the 1st Commando Regiment and 4RAR Commando before he became a founding member of the 2nd Commando Regiment (2CDO) in 2009.
As a Commando, Cale was deployed five times on combat tours to Afghanistan and Iraq and at home served as a team leader in the Tactical Assault Group, Australia’s elite anti-terror unit comprised of Commandos (TAG-East) and SAS operators (TAG-West).
Cale is the chief instructor of Kinetic Fighting, a company delivering advanced, customised skill-enhancement programs for the Australian Defence Force, government agencies and the public.
“My company was approached by Defence to supply a service via two trials over a 12-month period. During the second trial, we were not only told that the service would be wanted, we were asked to expand our service approximately threefold with the ability to expand further on request,” he said publicly earlier this week.
“This request came at a significant cost to me and my investors. Veterans, mostly from special forces backgrounds, were hired to meet the short timelines given to us for implementation.
“The Army walked away from this request over the Christmas period last year, leaving war veterans without jobs and in the process of physically moving house to be at the training location. We asked for a meeting to explain our situation and was told, I quote, ‘If you could prove we had a contract, we [Defence] would have to pay’.
“As we had spent a significant amount of money to meet what was asked of us, we felt that we should engage King’s Counsel so as to leave no doubt in the findings. Not only did King’s Counsel find in our favour, he wrote a near 20-page opinion with 400 pages of evidence showing a multitude of legal examples in our favour. His expert opinion is that we have an estoppel with the Commonwealth.
“As I took Defence by its word, we kept pouring money into the company to keep afloat during this process. The investigation took four months and we gave Defence two months to consider the findings of King’s Counsel.”
Seeking outside advice, a Kinetic Fighting investor reportedly approached their member of Parliament and obtained a letter from Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles.
The letter, published online, stated that, “Defence values partnerships with veteran-owned businesses such as Kinetic Fighting” and that “Defence is continuing to work with KF to resolve the commercial matter”.
Defence Connect has approached the Department of Defence for comment on the allegations.
“After the two-month period, the Army completely ignored us even though we had this letter from the Deputy Prime Minister,” Cale said.
Cale, the Australian Army’s subject matter expert for the Army Combatives Program, has previously spoken about his experiences in Afghanistan as a member of 2 Commando and a career in martial arts to develop the Army Combatives Program, during a Defence Connect Podcast with Liam Garman earlier this year.
“The stronger the person seems, the greater the trauma suffered. The strong are survivors of repeated trauma. We all suffer trauma, some of us are crushed by it and some of us are hardened to it, but we all suffer nonetheless,” Cale said in a recent public post on social media.
“The trauma that I and my team of mostly veterans have suffered at the hands of the Australian Defence Force leadership, not only this last year with this one situation, but over the past decade with over 30 contracts under even worse circumstances, has been immense. I have had enough and that is why I’m fighting back. Fighting back is my strong response in dealing with this current trauma. Thank you for your support.”
