Miranda Devine: Australian of the Year has become a vehicle for feminist agenda

A CURIOUS aspect of the Australian of the Year award is that three of the eight finalists were involved in one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Australian military history.

JOB ID : PD592353. 2016 Australian of the Year David Morrison AO with PM Malcolm Turnbull at an awards ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture by Gary Ramage

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A CURIOUS aspect of the Australian of the Year award is that three of the eight finalists were involved in one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Australian military history.

Former chief of Army David Morrison, his then speech writer, transgender ­officer Cate McGregor, and then Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick were central to the so-called Jedi Council sex scandal of 2013 that set the stage for Morrison’s feminist deification.

Described in the media as a “sex ring”, the Jedi Council was a closed email group of 17 male ADF personnel who received messages from former Army signaller Hastings Fredrickson, who used the Star Wars moniker on his laptop.

Between 2010 and 2013 Fredrickson, who worked for ­defence contractor Thales, sent explicit emails to the group detailing his sexual ­exploits, real or imagined. The “travel diaries” of “the Wolf of Woolloomooloo” were self-aggrandising amateur pornography, 50 Shades Of Grey for men. Women were “molls”, “sluts” and “whores”, and he was fixated on anal and “spit roast” sex.

Fredrickson, now 41, comes across as a repulsive predator, but his encounters were consensual. His most serious ­offence was to film himself having sex with an unsuspecting woman and sending screenshots to the group.

Morrison implemented her recommendations and became her slavish admirer.

After Thales discovered the emails, he was sacked and the ADF was informed. Thales also contacted the Melbourne woman he had filmed.

Fredrickson has since been convicted of using a carriage service to cause offence and ­received a 15-month suspended jail sentence. Justice done and that is where the matter should have ended.

But this was the “misogyny” era of the Gillard government and it came in the wake of the 2011 ADFA scandal in which a cadet filmed himself having consensual sex with another cadet and broadcast it via Skype without her knowledge.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith ordered seven reviews and appointed Broderick to change the ADF’s attitude to women. Morrison implemented her recommendations and became her slavish admirer.

One former general says Smith “exploited the Skype scandal for his own ... popularity within the (Labor) party. He wanted to show he could bring the military to heel”.

Thus, Smith opened the door to the worst social engineering experiment in Defence history. Morrison responded to the minor infractions of the Jedi Council with disproportionate ferocity, describing the case to senior brass as “worse than Skype”.

Most emails went unanswered. Many were never opened. Yet officers were punished for having them on their email system.

The speech McGregor wrote for Morrison in June 2013 was in direct response to the allegations. “There is no place for you among this band of brothers and sisters,” he thundered.

The speech went viral and is the main reason cited for ­Morrison’s Australian of the Year award. He was feted by the feminist establishment and shared a stage with actress ­Angelina Jolie at the UN as a result.

While soldiers were dying in Afghanistan, the Army was obsessed by gender. The unwitting members of the Jedi Council were sacrificial lambs.

In the end eight soldiers were sacked, among them young career officers of impeccable standing, who had done serial tours of duty in Afghanistan. SAS commandos who suffered PTSD were crucified for doing nothing more than reply approvingly to a rankly sexist email.

Most emails went unanswered. Many were never opened. Yet officers were punished for having them on their email system.

Yes, the language they used is offensive. But it’s just talk, black humour and a few dirty pictures sent in private emails to friends.

Only Fredrickson had committed a serious offence in filming a woman without consent and sharing images.

“The battle for us blokes is we admit we did wrong by slapping this guy on the back and making a joke of his actions,” says sacked Army major “John”. “But (our problem was) Morrison saw it as a platform to launch his agenda.”

John regrets the replies he sent Fredrickson. “Yeah f--ken oath I’d root her. Good work,” was one.

Yet the way the Army and the media behaved, you would think the soldiers were guilty of serious sexual offences.

Or another he wrote while on deployment in the Middle East: “The Israeli molls are smoking hot.”

Sexist, yes. A sacking offence, absolutely not.

“We thought we’d get kicked in the arse for using the Defence email system inappropriately,” he said.

Yet the way the Army and the media behaved, you would think the soldiers were guilty of serious sexual offences. As one senior officer peripherally involved with the case says: “I assumed they had sexually assaulted women.”

Among the eight who were sacked were veterans of tours of duty in Afghanistan. Some were suffering PTSD yet were ruthlessly discarded.

One Special Forces soldier was about to receive a Commendation for Distinguished Service for actions in warlike conditions in Afghanistan.

His relatives had flown to Canberra from interstate the day before the ceremony when he was told the award had been withdrawn.

These are men who put their lives on the line in service of their country and they have suffered the ultimate betrayal, crucified by the Army to satisfy a feminist agenda.

And now Australian of the Year has become a vehicle for this agenda.