Investigation into senior Territory defence base Wing Commander Fiona Pearce
The Australian Defence Force has launched an investigation into a senior NT base commander.
Northern Territory
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The commanding officer of a major Northern Territory military base is under internal Defence Force investigation over her leadership and management style.
Tindal RAAF Base officer in charge, Wing Commander Fiona Pearce, is being investigated after senior officers at the base made behavioural allegations against her.
Appointed commanding officer 17th Squadron in April 2023, Wing Commander Pearce was the first woman officer in charge at the crucial strategic Australian Defence Force base.
The NT News understands Defence Minister Richard Marles personally ordered the chief of air force, Air Marshal Robert Chipman, to undertake the probe.
A whistleblower contacted the NT News worried details of the investigation had not been published.
In response to questions from the NT News, the Australian Defence Force said Defence did not tolerate “unacceptable behaviour”.
“There is no place for unacceptable behaviour or conduct within Defence,” an ADF spokesperson said.
“All allegations of unacceptable behaviour are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly following due process.”
The NT News has been told three senior officers at Tindal requested transfers from the base because of the way they were managed and spoken to by senior command.
It is understood a male and a female squadron leader both sought transfers from Tindal with a third squadron leader currently seeking a way out.
The NT News has requested a one-on-one interview with Wing Commander Pearce.
Wing Commander Pearce replaced outgoing Tindal boss, Wing Commander Shane Smith, whose tenure at the base concluded on March 11, 2023.
A champion of female recruitment into the defence forces, in 2020 Wing Commander Pearce wrote a piece in The Strategist, scrutinising low female recruitment into the services.
“Unconscious bias plays a role,” she wrote.
“Well-meaning people, who are not even aware that their decisions – about who’s chosen for enlistment or commission, who gets deployed, who gets promoted – are guided by presumptions and prejudices they don’t know (or acknowledge) they hold.
“Assumptions persist that only certain styles of leadership cut it in a military context, that ‘softer’ (read: women’s?) leadership styles lack authority and aren’t suitable in a military environment. This is despite civilian studies that find women are highly effective leaders.”
The Tindal RAAF Base is a key piece of defence infrastructure within both the ANZUS and AUKUS alliances, with billions being spent on upgrades by the Australian and United States militaries.
In July it will host Exercise Pitch Black 2024, which will be Australia’s largest ever military exercise.
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Originally published as Investigation into senior Territory defence base Wing Commander Fiona Pearce
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