Vice Chief of the Defence Force - Press Conference

Ladies and gentlemen. As the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, I have overall command responsibility for ADFA. Over the past two years I have made a personal commitment to meet and engage with the Officer Cadets and Midshipmen. Through these engagements I have seen first hand that the vast majority of the men and women at ADFA are a credit to the ADF. And that is why I am extremely disappointed to be here today to inform you of allegations of serious misconduct by a small group of these individuals.  

On Monday, ADFA staff became aware of an off-campus incident that occurred on the weekend and they immediately referred the matter to the Australian Defence Force Investigative Service. An investigation is underway. 

It appears that this incident is linked to a group of male Cadets and Midshipmen that is operating contrary to the values and standards expected of ADF members. The investigation is ongoing, but currently implicates in the order of 20 Cadets and Midshipmen drawn from all three Services and all year levels at ADFA. 

As this investigation is ongoing, I cannot go into any further details about the nature of the allegations except to say that if substantiated, the conduct is unacceptable and is not in keeping with our expectations of future leaders of the Australian Defence Force.  

Conduct of this nature has consequences and will not be tolerated. 

Within the last 24 hours, Commandant ADFA has suspended seven Cadets and Midshipmen pending the outcome of the ADFIS investigation. I expect more suspension decisions will be made in coming days.  

These individuals will be dealt with fairly. But I and the rest of the Defence senior leadership will not apologise for the decisive actions we are taking in dealing with these matters. As we have all said many times, "the standard you walk past is the standard you set".  

Make no mistake, the strong, united stance you are seeing from myself, the Chief of the Defence Force and the Service Chiefs should send a very clear message – enough is enough - the Australian Defence Force will not accept actions or conduct that contradict our Defence values. Every one of us must accept responsibility and be held to account for our actions.  

In 2011, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, reviewed the culture at ADFA. She concluded that, while there had been positive changes in culture since the 1990s, there were still areas that required improvement. 

The ADFA leadership remains committed to implementing all of the Broderick recommendations and turning the Defence-wide Pathway to Change strategy into action at the Academy. We have implemented or almost completed 24 of the 31 recommendations in Part 1 of the Broderick Review, and we are working hard on the remainder. 

We clearly articulate to people joining ADFA the standards of conduct that we expect from ADF members and their individual accountability. These and the ADF values are continually reinforced. We have also made improvements to supervision at ADFA outside normal working hours with the establishment of residential support officers. In fact, it is through these measures that the current issue has been brought to our attention. 

Encouraging aspects of this matter are that some of the Cadets are demonstrating the moral courage to speak out and the ADFA leadership took prompt and decisive action. And this should be applauded. 

In this vein, I take this opportunity to encourage anyone, anywhere in the Defence organisation who is subject to, or aware of instances of unacceptable conduct to speak up so that the matter can be addressed. And I expect that our leaders – at all levels – will respond proactively and appropriately.  

Right now there will be parents who are asking whether ADFA is the right place for their son or daughter. I am a father and I understand those concerns. I can assure you that the ADFA leadership has undertaken an enormous effort to implement the recommendations of the Broderick Review and I am confident that ADFA has the right leadership, reporting mechanisms and support structures in place. In this particular case, ADFA is providing appropriate support to all affected personnel and I am remaining personally focussed on this matter. 

ADFA is the ADF’s pre-eminent training institution. The young men and women who have the privilege to attend ADFA have been selected as the military’s future leaders and, as such, they are also the ADF’s future role models. I want to emphasise here that the vast majority of ADFA Cadets and Midshipmen understand what is expected of them and act accordingly.  

Elizabeth Broderick is finalising an audit of ADFA’s implementation of the 31 recommendations in Phase 1 of her report. The audit report is expected to be released in the next month. While I cannot comment on the details of this report, she has told me that good progress is being made, but we need to do more in certain areas. I have spoken to her regarding this new matter. As part of that conversation, I have asked her to look at this specific issue and provide advice on how to further reinforce the cultural improvements occurring at ADFA. 

The actions we are taking in this matter further reflect the strong commitment that I, along with CDF and the Service Chiefs, have to tackling the heart of the ADF’s cultural issues. It is about instilling the right values and behaviours in our men and women so that they understand the standards Australia expects from its Defence Force and its future leaders. It must start from the first day our cadets and midshipmen arrive at ADFA and it must hold each of us to account throughout our military career. 

Before I take questions can I say that I understand your interest in getting to the detail of the allegations, but this matter is the subject of an investigation and I am not able to say anything more. If proven, such conduct is unacceptable and inappropriate and is not in accordance with the actions we demand and expect of future leaders of the Australian Defence Force. 

QUESTION:                     [Inaudible question]

MARK BINSKIN:                Excuse me?

QUESTION:                     How many alleged are victims [indistinct]?

MARK BINSKIN:                At the moment we don't have any knowledge of victims. It's more what this group was doing. So it's a group that was acting inappropriately and involving conduct that's not becoming of future leaders of the Australian Defence Force.

QUESTION:                     Just in a broad sense [indistinct] - sorry, in a broad sense, can you give us an idea was this conduct [indistinct] sexual abuse?

MARK BINSKIN:                No, I can't go into the details of the misconduct, but it was misconduct of a small subgroup culture within ADFA.

QUESTION:                     [Indistinct] come forward if they know [indistinct] they don't know the [indistinct] details [indistinct], and also…

MARK BINSKIN:                Well, if they don't know anything, they don’t have anything to report.

QUESTION:                     Also, I mean, when police talk about investigation, been quite open about some of the details they, you know, they're investigating [indistinct].

MARK BINSKIN:                I've given you all the information I can give you at this stage in the investigation.

QUESTION:                     Can you tell us whether it was sexual in nature?

MARK BINSKIN:                No. I don't want to go into the details of what the inappropriate conduct was.

QUESTION:                     [Inaudible question]

MARK BINSKIN:                No. With the investigations at the moment, there's no indication yet [indistinct].

QUESTION:                     Did it involve male and female?

MARK BINSKIN:                Information so far is it's all male personnel.

QUESTION:                     Does it have to do with a certain Jedi Council?

MARK BINSKIN:                No. It's nothing to do with the Jedi Council.

QUESTION:                     How disappointing [indistinct]…?

MARK BINSKIN:                Sorry, I'll go back to that. I - it's separate to the Jedi Council issue. Investigations may find some link but at this stage there is no indication of that.

QUESTION:                     [Indistinct] did these alleged incidents happen on campus or away from [indistinct]?

MARK BINSKIN:                The incident that brought this to our attention happened off-campus. So there was an incident that occurred that highlighted to us that we had an issue and then through investigation this week it has uncovered the number and [indistinct].

QUESTION:                     [Inaudible question]

MARK BINSKIN:                I can't tell you where it happened, but it happened off- campus.

QUESTION:                     Can you rule out alcohol involved?

MARK BINSKIN:                No, I can't. As you know, alcohol is an issue that we continue work [indistinct] the Defence Force and in the coming week we will be releasing some more of the alcohol strategy that we have, which will be the alcohol behaviour expectation statement and the leaders’ guide to management of alcohol.

QUESTION:                     [Indistinct] there appears to be no doubt that the hierarchy in the Defence Force has acted quite [indistinct]. That something like this can happen after the announcements of over the past fortnight, do you believe that something much more serious - a much more serious action needs to be taken?

MARK BINSKIN:                I think the right action has been taken by [indistinct]. We developed a cultural change from the [indistinct]. I will say this particular incident we're investigating has been going for less than 12 months in ADFA. It is a small group, the conduct of which is quite questionable - serious misconduct. Again, I'd say across the three years and across the three services.

                                    What we're dealing with here is a small group. There has been significant cultural change in ADFA. In fact, that is what Elizabeth Broderick is telling me when I talk to her and we had a conversation on that especially [indistinct] this week. But there is obviously more to do. There's obviously out of this [indistinct] other things [indistinct] Defence Force, a few people don't get it. They really don't. But that's not the majority of the people and it's not the majority of the cadets [indistinct].

                                    I interact with them day in and day out. I see them a fair bit. I have lunch with a number of the cadets on a regular basis just to talk. I've got to tell you, they are an impressive bunch of people. They really are. And they will be just as disgusted at what's going on with this small group as everyone else.

QUESTION:                     But it seems actually mind boggling that after all of the publicity and all of the [indistinct] after the Skype incident, that people will be brazen enough in an organisation like ADFA to be involved in something [indistinct] serious.

MARK BINSKIN:                Brendan, you must have a microphone in my office. They are about the exact words that I used when I found about this and I get back to the statement, I said enough is enough. There are some people, it's a small group, but there are some people who still don't understand.

QUESTION:                     [Inaudible question]

MARK BINSKIN:                I think I've answered that a couple of times. It's all male personnel at the moment.

QUESTION:                     [Inaudible question]

MARK BINSKIN:                No.

QUESTION:                     Air Marshal, you say it's a small group of people, well what [indistinct] culture?

MARK BINSKIN:                It is a small group within ADFA. It's come to light out of this incident through the moral courage of a number of excellent cadets who have come forward to talk about it. So I actually think that's demonstrating a good culture that's developing [indistinct] but there is a small group, and their conduct is not in accordance with the values or the conduct that we expect from our future leaders. That's why some have already been suspended and there's potential for further suspension action.

QUESTION:                     The Jedi - the so-called Jedi Council [indistinct]. Is that correct?

MARK BINSKIN:                Yeah, I think you need to put it in context. ADFIS were aware of a single individual who was a contractor and a reservist back in 2010. I believe ADFIS only became aware of the potential for offenders in more of a group earlier this year.

QUESTION:                     [Inaudible question] So just on that question, is ADFIS up to the task of [indistinct] asked to do, is it properly resourced, and why was it left up to [indistinct]?

MARK BINSKIN:                Because it's a civil criminal matter.

QUESTION:                     Air Marshal, did the so-called Jedi [indistinct] were there any methods of [indistinct] involved?

MARK BINSKIN:                There's a small group in the Jedi Council, the group that [indistinct]. I don't know what the broader investigations are currently [indistinct].

QUESTION:                     Are you also worried about [indistinct]?

MARK BINSKIN:                No, I'm not concerned about [indistinct], but I will say that I'm concerned about the welfare of all the men and women in the Defence Force. Making sure that we have the appropriate culture, we have the appropriate mechanisms in place so those that feel that they have been at the end of abuse or harassment or inappropriate behaviour, they trust us to bring it forward and they trust that we will handle it appropriately, proactively.

QUESTION:                     With regard to the Jedi Council, you say [indistinct]. I understand that that contractor [indistinct]. Is it remotely satisfactory that it took two years and eight months before the senior members of Defence were actually brought in [indistinct]?

MARK BINSKIN:                I won't step in across Chief of Army here [indistinct] last week to talk about what he is doing, but I think the fact is that the senior leadership when they were brought in on it acted quite swiftly. The issue that we get is it was with the civilian police authorities to investigate. It only became apparent to us, as I understand, earlier this year that there were potential offenders in the services. Now, that being said, there is an issue, I think, that you're rightly raising with the [indistinct] reserves, but I'll have to leave it to the Chief of Army because he understands the logistics of it - the situation.

QUESTION:                     [Indistinct] as the Vice Chief of [indistinct], do you feel comfortable with your [indistinct] being asked to obey [indistinct].

MARK BINSKIN:                I'm not here to talk about that today. I'm here to talk about the inappropriate conduct that's happened at ADFA. Can I just make an offer to people. I'd like to offer you all after they've finished their exams in the next couple of weeks to facilitate visits, [indistinct] talk to the cadets [indistinct] and you can get a feel for what they think and what they see as appropriate conduct and inappropriate conduct. I actually think you'll be just as impressed with them as I am.

                                    And I just want to make one more thing clear: the welfare and the safety of my cadets [indistinct] out of ADFA [indistinct] what we are doing. I will not tolerate this sort of conduct going on out there. I will not tolerate it in the future leaders of the Australian Defence Force.

QUESTION:                     [Inaudible question]

MARK BINSKIN:                I don't have those exact details but again, it's across the three years.

QUESTION:                     [Inaudible question]

COMPERE:                      This is the final question.

MARK BINSKIN:                There's just under a thousand but I can say one thing, today there are seven less. Thank you very much.