Mother’s ‘sense of justice’ from ADF abuse finding

Susan Campbell’s 15-year-old air force cadet daughter committed suicide after being humiliated by superiors.

Eleanore Tibble committed suicide after being humiliated by superiors.

The mother of a young victim of mistreatment by the Australian Defence Force hopes a damning royal commission finding will lead to further reform of defence culture.

Susan Campbell, whose 15-year-old air force cadet daughter committed suicide after being humiliated by superiors, last night welcomed “a sense of justice” brought by the latest findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Susan Campbell. Picture: Peter Mathew

The commission’s case study into ADF response to abuse, ­released on Tuesday, found that the threat of disciplinary action against Ms Campbell’s daughter, Eleanore Tibble, after a superior confessed to a personal relationship with her was “wrong”.

“At no point should blame be placed on a cadet when an adult instructor or officer engages with a relationship with the cadet,” the commission found.

“The responsibility remains entirely with an adult instructor or officer.”

The commission found that during the events of 2000 that led to Eleanore’s suicide, the girl was interviewed without the knowledge of her mother and that this was “improper” and caused the cadet, based with the Tasmanian squadron, “considerable distress”.

Eleanore was told on October 30, 2000, that she had to resign or she would be dishonourably discharged, in what the commission found was a denial of natural justice. “She should not have been the subject of disciplinary proceedings in the first place,” it said in a statement.

On November 10, 2000, senior management determined that the relationship was not sexual and that discharge was no longer justifiable, but Wing Commander Carroll James failed to reinstate Eleanore, who committed suicide 17 days later.

Ms Campbell said the findings further vindicated her 17-year battle to prove her daughter had been treated unjustly: “It certainly brings a sense of justice that I’ve always pursued.”

The commission also found “widespread” physical and sexual abuse of child recruits at the HMAS Leeuwin naval base in Western Australia from the 1960s to 1972, and senior staff “knew of and tolerated” it.

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