Uniform Justice: Telegraph campaign to end Defence abuse of women
Sexual assault victims in the Australian Defence Force have been further traumatised by shameful cover-ups by senior figures. Read some of their stories and join our campaign in their fight for justice.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A year into her service, a military police officer learned that reporting sexual assault would leave her shunned, bullied, and treated like a pest at a well-oiled, male-dominated military base.
The woman is calling for the Australian Defence Force to overhaul its “pathetic and lacklustre” response to allegations of sexual assault.
“If such situations arise within a Military Police Unit that leave the victim feeling helpless and invalidated, I cannot imagine what happens within other areas of the defence force,” she told The Saturday Telegraph.
She is furious her identity cannot be revealed due to legal constraints, despite her desperately wanting to go public with her story.
“Years later I’m still being silenced to ensure that someone else’s name and reputation is intact,” she says. “Go figure.”
The woman made her initial complaint to her sergeant.
“There were procedures in place that should have occurred to investigate this further,” she says. “The chain of command failed myself by not following the Defence protocol.
“Instead, I continued to work with and around that same person who I told them had sexually assaulted me.
“I had to follow orders from this person, a person who I detested with all my might.”
The woman joined the military police in 2016, and had been at the base in question for three months when the alleged sexual assault occurred.”
She worked up the courage to text the man later that same day to ask what had happened. They came to a mutual agreement never to speak about it again.
“I kept my distance, tried to forget about what happened and just get on with my job but then I found out stories were going around about me,” she says.
Later she was pulled aside by the sergeant in headquarters and questioned about whether the pair was sleeping together.
“I broke down and said that is not what happened. Crying, I told him what happened. He believed me. He said ‘you are strong for telling me this’. He asked me what I wanted to do and I was in such a state I said ‘I don’t know’.”
His words were ‘leave it with me’. I went back into the bathroom and for 90 minutes I was screaming and crying, I was so humiliated knowing the whole unit was talking about me,” she says.
The soldier expected something to be done but later learned the alleged attacker had briefly been spoken to but no action had been taken, not even the taking of a statement.
“Nothing was done, it was swept under the rug as if nothing happened. That in itself is appalling.
“He is a military police member. I expected something to be done.
“I was expected to work with him for the remainder of the year and I did but it f..king broke me. I was drinking heavily, sleeping around because that was reclaiming the power back. I was not the diligent soldier I prided myself on being.”
Then she found out she was being posted to Perth, the other side of the country.
“Seemed like the easiest solution, remove the female. She’s the one who came forward,” she said.
Fast forward a few more months to life in Perth when a junior approached the woman for advice about a superior making unwanted advances towards her.
“I basically told her ‘just accept it, this has happened to me’,” she recalls.
Later, after the woman left the unit and went AWOL due to the harassment she had endured, she was asked to explain why she didn’t report it.
“I said that with all due respect, why would I report something so minuscule when something serious happened to me and no one gave a f..k — they covered it up.”
This time the woman was taken seriously.
“The investigating officer made phone calls to the ADF investigative service on my behalf. I made a formal complaint, took part in an eight-hour interview, gave my statement that was 17 pages long. I had kept notes, dates, time, places, I had photos,” she said.
“At the end of that they said: ‘what do you want to do?’ I wanted the unit and chain of command held accountable. They covered it up and invalidated all of my claims.”
Like many sexual assault victims, the woman has lost sleep wondering what she could have done differently to avoid being a target.
Her matter was investigated by state police, the man involved was charged and the case went to trial. He was found not guilty.
The woman has since been medically discharged and is still receiving counselling.
IN FEAR EVERY DAY
Wearing breathing apparatus and safety overalls, 18-year-old Danielle Wilson scrambled with her fellow cadets through the smoke-filled mock ship looking for a way to safety.
The orders were simple: stick together, single file, don’t leave anyone behind.
“We had been told when we put on the overalls to remove our underwear for fear that synthetic fabrics would stick to our skin in extreme heat,” Wilson explained.
“This was only a mock exercise, but I guess it made sense at the time. What I did notice though was the pockets had no ends in them and you could put your hands straight through.
“Part way through the simulation exercise someone grabbed me, put their hands down my pockets and their fingers penetrated me.
“I tried to pull the hand away but they held firm, I don’t know who it was because we couldn’t see, and when we got out everyone looked the same.”
Terrified, Wilson scanned the people around her in the light of day — soon realising she had no clue who attacked her. It could have been any cadet. She had no face to report.
The new recruit was in shock.
“I was very young and scared I didn’t know what to do. I totally freaked out,” she said.
“I reported it and was told to go away.
“That’s devastating in itself, that I was actually sexually assaulted and they didn’t want to know about it.”
It was the first of many examples of inappropriate and unlawful behaviour Wilson experienced
during her time in the Australian navy.
“Getting questioned about your sex life was a common occurrence,” she said.
“And reporting that this harassment made you uncomfortable resulted in you getting told ‘suck it up princess, this is the Navy’.”
Looking back, Wilson says the mental torment was a burden for one so young.
“I didn’t have any family support. I had a boyfriend but I couldn’t tell him what went on, he would want to smash someone’s head in. I didn’t report things after a while because I knew nothing would be done about it,” she recalls.
Wilson was only in the Navy for three years when she knew she needed a way out.
“I got pregnant because you can’t just quit, the only way out was to get pregnant, then we got married. I was 20, having my first baby as a way of getting out of a job.
“Don’t get me wrong I don’t regret it, I look at my daughter as my little saviour.
“I just lived in fear every day. Some days nothing would happen and other days it was a nightmare.
“I became suicidal from the stress and anxiety.
“I’ve spoken about it a lot now, I’ve actually testified at the royal commission where I told them that I understand as an organisation Defence can’t control what individuals do — you get bad eggs in every workplace — but it’s how they respond to it and deal with it.
“My suffering could have been stopped each time I reported it.
“But instead you are left to fend for yourself.
“They should be looking out for you not aiding the people who keep abusing you.”
HOW MEN USE THEIR POSITIONS TO ATTACK
The Army and Navy are the “riskiest” services when it comes to sexual assault, with senior males the most likely predators, using their position to bully victims into silence, or force them out of the defence force, a shock new study shows.
“Commanders often apply unnecessary attention in the form of extra duties, denial of postings, reduction of privileges or ongoing harassment to try to push for termination of service,” said the study’s author, veteran Ben Wadham.
“Women are assaulted across the rank structure, and it is usually by a senior male who exerts their authority to prey, stalk or manipulate women to assault them when they are most vulnerable.”
Mr Wadham, the Director of the Open Door research initiative at Flinders University, specialising in military criminology, recently concluded his three-year Australian Research Council grant on institutional abuse and military sexual assault within the Australian Defence Force.
“We know from government inquiries that the quantum of military sexual assault is unknown.
“Nonetheless, the data we have describes the Army and Navy as the riskiest services,” he said.
“Our research conducted 67 long interviews with men and women in the ADF. The actual number of assaults in the ADF is very difficult to quantify and data is unreliable, but these interviews tell us about how sexual assault occurs, against who, in what contexts and with what techniques.”
Women largely experience sexual assault, whereas men also experience physical assault. Men often don’t register assault as sexual when it is an initiation or hazing incident.
Mr Wadham said commanders who abused or assaulted their subordinates often used their rank and authority to keep the victim from reporting the assault.
“They also use their authority to use the military justice system or general disciplinary actions to harass, bully and manipulate,” he said. “Military sexual assault is highly traumatic for service personnel. This is partly because of the sense of institutional betrayal.
“Young people join the services with bright eyes ready to serve their country.
“They are heavily invested in their service.”
VICTIMS FIND THEIR VOICES WITH US
Deborah Morris: Former navy trainee Deborah Morris claims she was raped by a superior and then felt “raped all over again” by the appalling way Defence handled her complaints and its efforts to sweep it under the carpet.
Morris chose to speak publicly about her treatment at the hands of a “trusted” superior to expose the culture of cover-up in the Australian Defence Force and “slut shaming” of victims that led her to attempted suicide.
Erin Brown: Midshipman Erin Brown was 17 and full of enthusiasm when she joined the Navy in 2001 – but it took less than a month for her dream job to become her worst nightmare.
The ex-navy officer says her virginity was taken by a more senior officer from the ship while she was on her first training cruise in Townsville.
Narelle Wilson: Young, fit and bursting with Aussie pride, Narelle Wilson was destined to be one of the first women to sail the seas on-board an Australian navy vessel until an “atrocious” sexual assault crippled her resolve and destroyed her career.
The WRAN was just 18 when she was digitally raped by a doctor on base during a medical consultation – he was a much higher-ranking lieutenant commander. “I didn’t report the incident because in 1979 there were no reporting procedures in place,” she said.
Got a news tip? Email weekendtele@news.com.au
Originally published as Uniform Justice: Telegraph campaign to end Defence abuse of women
Viral bishop defends free speech against new laws
The outspoken bishop stabbed at the pulpit for his political views has panned new misinformation laws.
Almost 500 new homes to be built over Sydney Olympic Metro
Almost 500 new homes will be built on the new Sydney Olympic Park Metro precinct with major construction set to begin after the site was finally approved by the NSW government.