Australian defence force scandals | news.com.au Australias leading news site
AUSTRALIA'S defence forces have been repeatedly embroiled in scandals involving sexual harassment, bullying and entrenched bastardisation. Here are some instances.
Sexual harassment, HMAS Swan – August 1992
Two years after women were integrated into the Australian armed forces, a female medic made serious allegations of sexually assault by a male officer. He was court-martialled and acquitted, but soon two other women came forward with claims of harassment and discrimination. There was a public outcry.
Amid heated debate, the ADF launched an inquiry. It found that levels of discrimination were no higher in the armed forces than any other workplace, but that traditions and behaviour in the previously all-male dominion of the armed forces had to change.
Bastardisation – 3RAR
In 2000, Time magazine reported at least 17 paratroopers in 3RAR received medical attention for assault-related injuries between 1996 and 1999. In most of the cases, the victims were suspected of having stolen from fellow soldiers.
According to the magazine, a company sergeant major told the unit: “If you catch anyone thieving you should beat them to within an inch of their lives. Drag them bleeding in front of my desk and nothing will be said about your actions.” In another case, an army cook was beaten unconscious because he did not stand up when 3RAR's colours were paraded through the mess.
Allegations of brutality and bastardisation were also aired in a parliamentary hearing which heard claims of rape, torture and repeated bashings, sometimes authorised by senior ranking officers in the 3rd Battalion.
Corporal Craig Smith told the hearing: “Two soldiers he had standing in front of the company were to be dealt with by the members of the company, and they were to be outside his office the next morning bashed, bleeding and bruised.”
December 2000 – Racism in 3RAR
Images appeared online of the neo-Nazi hate rock band 'Blood Oath' giving a Nazi salute. Three members of the band were identified as former soldiers in 3RAR paratroop batallion. There was no evidence they tried to recruit other soldiers into the neo-Nazi cause, but defence force heads were forced to defend claims of racism in the ranks.
One had left the forces, but two remained, though not with 3RAR, by the time the images were publicised. Australia's Defence Chief Admiral Chris Barrie said he would not comment on personal beliefs, as long as soldiers were apolitical while in uniform.
Bullying-related suicides
Private Jeremy Williams, 20, killed himself after suffering sustained intimidation and abuse from commanding officers and trainees at the School of Infantry in Singleton, north of Sydney, in 2003. He told his parents bullies had made him feel like ‘scum’.
An internal army report found that a culture of denigration and harassment, especially towards injured soldiers, had existed at the school and substantially contributed to Private Williams's death. Young soldiers at four training bases, including Singleton, were subsequently asked to anonymously fill out questionnaires and report all cases where they had been bullied by their superiors.
Portuguese-born John Satatas had been in the army 16 months when he was found hanging by a cord, dead, at the Holsworthy Army Barracks in Sydney in April 2003. He had a moustache and beard drawn on his face and the word "Spiros" on his forehead and "Spic" on his arm. He had been missing for three days, but no effort had been made to locate him.
His mother told a Senate inquiry John had told his brother Richard he had been physically and verbally abused by other soldiers and nothing had been done about it.
Private David Hayward’s body was found at a backpackers hostel in Perth after he commited suicide. The 20-year-old rifleman had been AWOL from his Darwin base for 62 days, but noone in his family had been notified. He allegedly had been bullied before he disappeared.
In 2008, the Federal Government announced ex-gratia payments would be made to the families of sldiers who had killed themselves.
Bastardisation Duntroon – 2007
An internal army survey revealed a culture of bastardisation at Duntroon, the Royal Military College in Canberra. It detailed:
• Racial stereotyping, where Asian recruits were forced to play the enemy
• Use of vulgar language, including an instance where cadets were told to "put your wanking wrench in the air" (put their hand up) if they wanted to ask a question
• Women risking dehydration rather than going to the toilet, since they were often told to go to the nearest tree, where male recruits could see them
• Assaults, including one instance where a warrant officer threw a rock at an officer cadet who did not hear an order, and another where the same officer hit an officer cadet on the back of his head for not clearing his weapon properly.
• Officers calling cadets ‘dogs’ and told them to heel.
Tania Zaetta - May 2008
A leaked defence department briefing note documents unsubstantiated claims – purportedly made by singer Angry Anderson to the secretary of the Defence force's entertainment division – that Bollywood star Tania Zaetta slept with troops while on a tour of military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Zaetta denied it amid outrage that documents naming her constituted a gross invasion of her privacy. Anderson denied he had made the claims.
Zaetta received compensation for the privacy breach – the amount was not made public – and Defence Chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston made an unreserved apology.
Cash for Sex Ledger scandal - May 2009
Sailors on the HMAS Success allegedly kept a book – called The Ledger – that detailed the female crew members they had had sex with. A dollar amount was assigned to each female, with lesbians and officers allocated a higher amount. Sailors also allegedly challenged each other to have sex in unusual locations, including on a pool table.
The scandal was uncovered while the ship was in Singapore, and three sailors alleged to be involved were removed from the ship and sent back to Australia for questioning as part of a formal enquiry.
A second enquiry launched after the first was found to be biased. The report was tabled in February 2011.
'It's a very disturbing report ... it is very concerning,' Defence Minister Stephen Smith said. It detailed predatory sexual and drunken misconduct in an extreme tribal culture, boozing and bar brawls. It found no evidence of a “ledger”, but did find that a price has been put on one female sailor, and that sailors had public sex and invited colleagues to watch. “ …it is a very bad read,” Mr Smith said.
Steroid abuse – June 2010
It was revealed four special forces soldiers were sent home from Afghanistan after they were discovered abusing steroids. Two were in possession of the substances, and two tested positive to its use.
It was later revealed that more than 600 people had tested positive for steroids and other illegal substances in the previous five years.The news came hot on the heels of revelations a commando had overdosed on opiates while based in Tarin Kowt.
Drugs testing was stepped up to include all 300 members of the special forces.
Drugs for sale – December 2010
ADF and police investigate claims naval personnel from the Garden Island naval base in Sydney base were selling drugs to backpackers. Steroids and other substances were seized during a raid, and 17 sailors were identified as being part of a suspected drug trafficking ring believed to be dealing in ecstasy, and possibly cocaine and heroin.
Vice Admiral Russ Crane said the navy tested a minimum of 25 per cent of its people annually, and warned there will be consequences for anyone who breaks the zero tolerance drug policy.
"The use and trafficking of drugs can have devastating consequences - both for the individual concerned and for those around them," he says. “They end relationships, careers and eventually they end lives.”
But a source told the ABC some areas of ships could not be accessed by sniffer dogs, and that the ring was operating at all levels of the service. "It's junior sailors, it's senior sailors. That's why no-one will talk to you," the source said.
Bastardisation revealed
Defence Minister Stephen Smith launched an investigation after soldier Guy Luther-Dan went public on the Seven network with allegations of bullying.
Mr Luther-Dan had completed his training and was sent to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment based in Darwin, where he said there were at least two suicide attempts during his time. He painted a graphic picture of bullying at the base.
"There was a group of us out field and we all got stripped down to our underwear, blindfolded, covered in gun grease," Mr Luther-Dan said. "Usually everyone is drunk, so it's very messy. It's very full on - drinking a cup full of gravel oil and grass, cigarette butts, and while that's happening having bottles, cans, anything they can find thrown at you.
"You can call it bastardisation. That's what they call it. It's just officers and senior NCOs (non-commissioned officers) picking on soldiers … It's unwritten really that a new soldier has to be embarrassed and degraded before he can be there.”
Racist language on Facebook – March 2011
Australian soldiers posted derogatory and racist comments on Facebook, referring to Afghans as "ragheads", "dune coons", "sand niggaz" and “smelly locals”. Laughter can beheard after an explosion, as one soldier comments the blast "scared the f--- out of that mufti". Prime Minister Julia Gillard is dubbed a ““f***ing ranga” in one post.
An investigation is instigated and Defence Minister Stephen Smith personally offers an apology to Afghan Foreign Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak.
Sex streamed on webcam - April 2011
A female defence cadet who had consensual sex with a male first-year army cadets was shocked to discover the encounter had been streamed live, without her knowledge, to six of his friends, who were watching on Skype in another room. Still images were subsequently distributed using mobile phones.
She reported the incident to an ADFA commandant, but was not offered counselling or support. Fearing a cover-up, she went to the media. And ADF and police investigation ensues.
Despite her distress, she was required by Defence bosses to attend a disciplinary hearing on unrelated minor charges, a move condemned by Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Chief of the Armed Forces Air Marshal Angus Houston.
She later claimed she was subjected to slurs, including being called a “slut”, by fellow students at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA).
Allegations of rape
A BRISBANE woman says a commanding officer told her young niece to "suck it up" after she was raped while training at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
The unnamed woman told the ABC her niece was 19 at the time and the sexual assault was so bad the young woman was admitted to hospital. She said her niece's partner, who was also in the defence force, also had his career threatened when the young woman weighed pursuing charges over the assault.
"The defence force did absolutely nothing. In fact, she was told by her commanding officer to suck it up," the woman told ABC radio in Brisbane.
"And when it looked like she was going to pursue the charges, her partner at the time was in another defence force and his career was threatened."
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