Dozens of Iraqi citizens have received secret compensation payments of up to $90,000 each from the Howard Coalition Government after alleging personal harm or hardship caused by Australian soldiers. The Daily Telegraph revealed on Monday April 9, 2007 revealed that taxpayers funded at least 45 amounts - usually paid in wads of United State's dollars - out of respect for what the Defence Department describes as an "eye-for-an-eye culture".

In total, $266,681 of taxpayers' money has been paid out to Iraqi civilians in so - called act of grace payments since the Australian Defence Force began operations in Iraq. The payments are huge sums for Iraqis, with the US Agency for International Development putting the present Iraq average annual income at $1,830. There were 37 individual payments for damage and injuries resulting from car accidents, ranging from $69 to $9,390. Others included payments relating to crop damage and shootings. While brief details are provided for some of the awards, the single biggest amount of $89,100 paid out in 2006 has not been explained.

But it is thought the sum is most likely to have been paid to the family of the bodyguard of the Iraqi Trade Minister Abdul Falah al - Sudani. Other payments of $33,900, $14,150 and $9,280 may also be related to that incident. Another payment of $53,128 has been confirmed as going to the widow of an Iraqi man killed by small arms fire during a 2005 incident involving a Security Detachment in Baghdad.

Heavily censored documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) show a lawyer for the women approached the Australian Embassy in Baghdad. A request for approval for a payment by the Defence Department to the Department for Finance and Administration states there is an "operational benefit" flowing from making such payments.

"Iraq has an eye-for-an-eye culture and it is important for Australian Forces to be seen as respecting this way of life," it said. One Iraqi was granted $6,618 after having his arm amputated after being shot after failing to slow while approaching a road block. Among the smaller sums paid, one Iraqi got $136 for "crop damage". The money handed over is in addition to free health care provided by Coalition forces or Iraqi hospitals.  

The United States is known to have paid out at least $20 million in similar payments - but one report stated the Pentagon valued life at $2,500.