RAAF commander under fire from staff over management style

The commanding officer of one of Australia’s most critical strategic air bases is under investigation after complaints from senior officers over her leadership style.

RAAF Base Tindal’s Wing Commander Fiona Pearce is under investigation after complaints from senior officers over her leadership style. Pictured here are two fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II multirole fighter aircraft enroute to their new home at No. 75 Squadron, RAAF Base Tindal, Northern Territory.

The commanding officer of one of Australia’s most critical strategic air bases is under investigation after complaints from senior officers over her leadership style.

RAAF Base Tindal’s Wing Commander Fiona Pearce was appointed only last year, the first female to be handed command of the 17th Squadron that manages the air hub, 320 km southeast of Darwin.

The allegations reportedly relate to leadership and management.

Wing Commander Fiona Pearce

Three senior officers, both male and female, have reportedly recently sought to transfer out of Tindal due to the way they were commanded.

Wing Commander Pearce, a noted ADF champion of recruiting women into service, has had a stellar career including most recently prior to Tindal as gender adviser at the Office of Military Affairs in the United Nations Department of Peace Operations.

Tindal is critical to Australia’s national defences, housing the F-35 combat fighter and undergoing a significant $1 billion upgrade and expansion, in-part to cater for US Air Force assets including the long range B-52 bomber. The US government is funding part of the expansion including fuel depots and extension of the runway as part of the AUKUS alliance.

Aircraft from the RAAF and US Marine Corps at the RAAF Base Tindal flight line for Exercise Pitch Black 2022.

Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite, in the Northern Territory to talk about a boost of infrastructure funding to defence bases, confirmed a high-level internal probe was underway.

“Some allegations have been made regarding Wing Commander Pearce, my understanding is that she is still performing that role,” Mr Thistlethwaite said.

“Those allegations will be investigated according to the normal policies and procedures of the Australian Defence Force and at some time in the future a determination and decision will be made.”

RAAF base Tindal RAAF base Tindal’s strategic military importance has been reinforced with the Federal Government now going to spend $1.6 billion — a boost of $1.1 billion — on further works to the base. Picture: Supplied

The minister said when allegations such as those have been made, appropriate people with “expertise and experience” are appointed to investigate and he could not say when a determination would be made nor detail the nature of the allegations.

“I can’t give you a timeline at this stage, but these investigations need to run their course according to the policy and everyone has to be offered natural justice and that will occur as well.”

Originally published as RAAF commander under fire from staff over management style