Bullied, raped Defence band member given instrument after abuse

A Defence band member was badly bullied and repeatedly sexually assaulted by her senior officers— but when she complained, she received a musical instrument to make up for it.

After years of hideous bullying and repeated sexual assaults by senior officers, a former Defence band member was given a musical ­instrument to make up for it.

Despite apologising for the abuse the woman endured, an investigation at the time into the senior officers involved failed to bring perpetrators to account.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had high hopes of paving the way for more women when she joined a Defence band.

Instead she was repeatedly attacked and watched senior officers cover up the assaults.

“If I complained I got into trouble, so early on there was no point in complaining because I was told I had to behave like a lady and I had to expect that type of behaviour because I was a woman,” she told The Sunday Telegraph.

A former ADF band member has alleged she was sexually abused and bullied by her bandmates.

Years later, after finally getting validation for her years of suffering abuse, the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce found that the abuse suffered at the time was credible, but there was not evidence available to pursue senior officers.

“I and many others found it incredibly cathartic to be listened to, not feel we were at fault … but they discontinued the defence ombudsman and now many people won’t have an opportunity to come forward,” she said.

The woman was just 19 when she joined the band in the 1980s and said she was quickly “groomed” by a senior officer more than twice her age.

“He said if I told anyone about it I would be the one to lose my job. He said he was protecting me from the bullying and if it wasn’t for him things would be a lot worse,” she said.

“On one occasion he bought his friend around and he raped me while the senior officer watched.”

She says while on the bus to a performance another band member masturbated while holding her down and in another incident her stolen underwear was returned filled with excrement.

The former band member said she was given a musical instrument to make up for how she was treated.

“The people who I would have put a complaint through to were the abusers,” she said. “If ever I was to go and talk to somebodyoutside the unit I was told what happens in the band stays in the band, and I wasn’t to do anything to bring the band into disrepute.”

The woman has thrown her support behind our Uniform Justice campaign in a bid to protect other ADF women from abuse.

“I feel incredibly sad that people are still going through this despite attempts to clean up the culture and I’m feeling angry that things haven’t stopped,” she said.

Lawyer and former army officer Glenn Kolomeitz, who is representing a dozen survivors of military sexual trauma, said: “This is another abject failure by the Defence leadership.”

A Defence spokesman said: “All allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct are taken very seriously. Where allegations are made, Defence maintains a victim-centric approach and will take action based on the wishes of the victim.

“Defence seeks to ensure it has an environment where individuals feel safe to report and have access to support services.”

Minister singing the same old tune

Survivors of sexual assault in the military say Defence’s “regurgitated” responses to the Uniform Justice campaign are leaving them “physically ill”.

Survivor and academic Deborah Morris said she is sick of hearing the same stock-standard response from Defence when questioned about the culture of sexual assault.

“Reading those regurgitated ADF lines makes me physically ill to the point of disassociation,” she said.

The Sunday Telegraph’s request for an interview with new Defence Minister Richard Marles has been ignored and questions about the culture at Defence palmed off.

Survivor Danielle Wilson was sexually assaulted as a cadet when an unknown man reached into her overalls during a training exercise.

Defence Force abuse survivorr and campaigner Danielle Wilson. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

She told her story for the Uniform Justice campaign and is frustrated by the lack of commitment from Defence to make real change.

“To me it just sounds like the standard line, there needs to be more, the minister needs to come out and say he’ll look into this,” she said. “It’s disgusting, this shows me this isn’t a priority to them.”

A Defence spokesman said: “Further information on Defence’s position with respect to this important matter will be released in the near future.”

Lawyer and former Army officer Glenn Kolomeitz who is representing victims of military sexual trauma said the “near future” isn’t good enough. “We are in the middle of a Royal Commission, we’ve had decades of Defence abuse inquiries … after all this time shouldn’t they have something to say now?” he said.

“All the time and effort they put into public relations spin, maybe they could dedicate to fixing their atrocious personnel mismanagement.”

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Originally published as Bullied, raped Defence band member given instrument after abuse