THE Australian Defence Force has been rocked by an avalanche of fresh allegations of sex crimes and misconduct within its ranks.
About 350 pages of previously classified ADF documents have detailed allegations of rape, child pornography, filming of sexual encounters and inappropriate relationships.
The documents - released to the Seven television network under freedom of information laws - suggest years of adverse publicity about sexual misconduct in the ADF may have failed to have led to the cultural change that many had hoped for.
One of the documents reveals that in April - days after details emerged of the Skype broadcast of a sexual incident involving a female cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy - a female soldier in Brisbane reported seeing a camera put underneath the screen of her shower cubicle.
A Defence briefing note says the case ''is considered highly sensitive given ongoing media attention to the case of female ADFA cadet. The media are unaware of this incident''.
The latest allegations come nearly two years after the start of an inquiry into into sexual abuse aboard HMAS Success.
As recently as September, an air force member was arrested and charged with seven counts of indecent assault of a minor. The case is still before the courts.
The Defence documents also reveal allegations concerning a soldier who had a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old living in Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney for two weeks.
Defence confirmed in a statement that two of its members had been disciplined over the case.
Also in September, an army member allegedly sexually assaulted a female member of his unit at Holsworthy. The matter was referred to police.
The documents reveal that a year earlier, a female student at the Defence Force School of Signals reported she had been sexually assaulted at a Melbourne hotel by a fellow student. The matter was referred to police.
In one incident on HMAS Success - allegedly four days after the first report into the sexual abuse on board the same
ship in 2009 - a crew member reported an alleged indecent assault. The incident allegedly took place last February, while the ship was in Singapore.
A sailor will face a court martial hearing over the incident, in which he or she allegedly tried to enter the room of a fellow sailor and kiss them and then allegedly grabbed the other crew member inappropriately after being pushed away.
The alleged incidents are detailed in documents labelled ''Hot Issue Briefs'' from the three arms of the forces for the past two years.
They outline incidents and responses and highlight the ''high'' media sensitivity of issues - particularly in relation to ongoing inquiries and adverse publicity about previous incidents.
The documents also detail allegations on other ships, but also in the army and air force. Some involve civilian victims.
Publicity about behaviour on HMAS Success appeared to bring forward some complaints about behaviour that had happened previously.
In one case, a senior navy officer was alleged to have had inappropriate relationships with junior sailors and allegedly had videos of sexual acts. This case is still subject to an investigation by the Defence Force Investigative Service.
In another case, there were allegations of bullying, indecent assault and a ''beer bounty'' for having sex with a victim on HMAS Toowoomba.
In some cases, complainants reactivated complaints they had dropped earlier. However, the briefs also noted that some who complained of inappropriate sexual behaviour did not want police to be notified.
A final report into HMAS Success, several reports into the culture of the Defence Force, and a separate review of more than 1000 allegations of sexual abuse are still to be completed.
In a statement last night, the Australian Defence Force said it had ''no tolerance for misconduct'' and that criminal matters were promptly reported to police.
No comments:
Post a Comment