Dr Caralee McLiesh PSM
Auditor-General
GPO Box 707
CANBERRA, ACT 2601

By Email: OfficeoftheAuditorGeneral@anao.gov.au

Dear Auditor-General,

Acknowledging the limited resources the Australian National Audit Office enjoys and the critical work program you have ongoing, we write to request you give consideration to undertaking a performance audit of the Afghanistan Locally Engaged Employee (LEE) and High-Risk Women programs, 2013 to 2025.

For twenty years, during the Afghan war, Australia asked Afghans to stand with us, and they did. They interpreted for our soldiers on patrol, kept our bases and aid programs running, and, in the case of many women, risked their lives for human rights work that Australia funded and asked them to carry out. In return, Australia gave its word that we would look after them. The Locally Engaged Employee (LEE) scheme and the pathway for high-risk women were how that commitment was meant to be upheld.

That word has not been kept. The LEE scheme has now closed, with people still in hiding, still hunted, and some having waited more than a decade for help. The veterans who served alongside them have told us plainly that the system is too slow, that people are being left behind, and that the delay is costing lives.

Our offices have met with veterans from across the country who served in Afghanistan. Two of the cases they described are worth sharing here.

The first is a man who worked beside Australian soldiers, diplomats and aid workers in Uruzgan. The Taliban learned of this and marked him for death. He applied to the program in 2013 and waited six years, his file moving only in 2019 after intervention from a Senator's office. By then a bomb had nearly killed him, and he had been flown to Germany for surgery to save his life. He came close to dying while his paperwork sat in Canberra.

The second is a woman who worked for women's rights at a human rights commission that Australia funded. She did exactly what we asked and paid her to do. In 2024 the Taliban killed her husband. She has been jailed and tortured, and left permanently injured after being denied the medical care she needed. Her application is supported by Rural Australians for Refugees. She remains in Afghanistan, and she remains a target.

These are not just administrative delays. Every day these people are left waiting is another day in hiding, another day exposed to Taliban retribution, another day Australia fails the promise it made to protect them. Parliament and the public deserve to know how these programs were run, and whether Australia kept its word.

We are therefore requesting that the Australian National Audit Office conduct a performance audit of the Afghanistan Locally Engaged Employee scheme and the high-risk women pathway, covering 2013 to 2025.

We would ask that the audit examine, in particular:

• Were applicants kept safe while they waited? Did the responsible agencies plan for their protection, including shelter, means of subsistence in third countries, and enough staff to move the files?
• Did the resourcing match the promise? Successive Prime Ministers and ministers made public commitments. Were the budget and staffing ever sufficient to meet these pledges?
• How long did people actually wait? How many were processed, approved and refused, and what was the average wait, year by year, from 2013 to 2025?
• Were the veterans and sponsors consulted? How often did anyone contact the Australians vouching for these applicants to confirm their identity and the risk they faced?
• Were the most at-risk dealt with first? Was there any system to place those in the gravest danger at the front of the queue, and was it used?
   

We asked these people to serve alongside us. Now their lives are at risk for it, and we owe them the protection we promised. An independent audit will not undo the years and the lives already lost, but it will give the Parliament and the Australian people a clear account of what went wrong, and help ensure we honour that promise to those still waiting.

Should your office require further information, please contact ***** ****** at ***** ****** or on ***** ******.

In the interests of transparency, this letter may be made public.

Sincerely,

12 August 2026