NAN-F-24
Abuse
Sydney, Aug. 22, 2017 (dpa/NAN)A Commission on Tuesday accused senior Australian military of tolerating initiation rites, widespread physical and sexual abuse among junior recruits at their bases.
The report released by the royal commission investigating child sexual abuse in Australian institutions, including the defence forces, followed a public inquiry conducted in Sydney in June and August 2016.
“Senior staff knew and tolerated the abuse, and the institutional environment allowed the abuse to continue,’’ the royal commission investigating child sexual abuse in the defence force said.
The incidents took place in the 1960s and 1970s at HMAS Leeuwin, an onshore navy base, in Western Australia and at an army apprentice school in Victoria in the 1970s and 80s.
The report stated that child recruits at a navy base and teen apprentices at an army base were subjected to “bastardisation” practices.
This according to the report involved a junior recruit being held down while boot polish, toothpaste or another substance was forcibly smeared on his genital or anal area.
It found that abused recruits at HMAS Leeuwin in Western Australia did not report it to anyone for fear of retribution, being humiliated or discharge, or because they believed no action would be taken.
Those who did report it were not believed or told the abuse was a “rite of passage,” the inquiry found.
Some of the abused were “dishonourably discharged” or threatened with that fate.
The navy base’s management was “ineffective in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse and, thus, the navy failed in its duty of care to junior recruits who were children,” the commission said.
At another army apprentice school in Victoria, teen apprentices were “severely sexually abused” in the 1970s and 1980s.
“That abuse included fondling of genitals, forced masturbation, anal penetration with an object such as a broomstick and “bastardisation” practices primarily perpetrated by senior apprentices or army staff members.
“One survivor told the royal commission that, after he reported abuse by three senior apprentices to a staff member, he was constantly bullied and further sexually abused.
“The army failed in its duty to provide a safe environment for junior apprentices,’’ the commission said.
Australian department of defence said it welcomes the report, calling it an “important inquiry.”
“The courage displayed by the survivors of abuse and their families has been one of the most powerful catalysts for change.
“What happened to them was wrong, the failures of the past will not be forgotten,” Ray Griggs, vice chief of the defence force, said.
He also said significant work has been done and resources allocated by defence to create uniformed youth safety culture and protocols. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole