Darwin officer ‘losing faith in army’ after Lieutenant Brett Harmsworth sexting sentence

An NT soldier says she is losing her faith in the army after one of her colleagues was allowed to keep his job, despite pleading guilty to distributing intimate images of another officer without consent.

A DARWIN soldier says she is losing her faith in the army after one of her colleagues was allowed to keep his job, despite pleading guilty to distributing intimate images of another officer without her consent.

The Defence Force Magistrates Court heard Lieutenant Brett Harmsworth filmed himself having sex with the victim using Snapchat in December 2019.

Then in January this year, while socialising with a fellow soldier in Darwin, Harmsworth told the other man he’d slept with the woman and when he didn’t believe him, he showed him the video on his phone.

The other man reported the incident and Harmsworth co-operated with investigators and provided his phone’s PIN before eventually pleading guilty to the charge last month.

In sentencing Harmsworth to a reduction in rank and “severely” reprimanding him, Group Captain Scott Geeves said he took into account his age, “complete co-operation” and “a number of impressive character references”.

But the officer who spoke to the NT News on condition of anonymity said Harmsworth’s co-operation in following orders was “the bare minimum” expected of all soldiers.

“(In) any other workplace, it doesn’t matter what your references are like, you’ve done something incredibly offensive to one of your peers,” she said.

“And there’s so many benefits to being the army as well, a reduction in pay really isn’t the end of the world because you’re still getting free healthcare.

“It’s a privilege to be in service and this result isn’t saying to me that women are as valued in defence.”

The woman said the result diminished the credibility of the Australian Defence Force’s Pathway to Change — Evolving Defence Culture 2017-2022 reform agenda.

“We get training on this kind of stuff every single year, it’s not avoidable, no one can say that we haven’t been told this is what you don’t do,” she said.

“If you’re going to say you’re going to address these issues then it really has to be full force, it can’t be half hearted like this.”

An ADF spokesman said the organisation “does not tolerate unacceptable behaviour in any form” but could not comment on individual cases “due to the Privacy Act”.

“Defence is committed to creating a safe environment where individuals have access to support services and feel safe to report unacceptable behaviour, including workplace bullying, discrimination, harassment and sexual assault, knowing that incidents will be addressed,” he said.

“Defence remains focused on providing the appropriate support services to those involved, as required.”