Review into the treatment of women at the Australian Defence Force ...

Chapter 10: Minimising Risk, Managing Incidents and Ensuring the Safety of the Workplace – Recommendations 22-31Intent of RecommendationThis Recommendation was intended to ensure that the ADFA and ADC leadership remained awareof all incidents of concern at ADFA, and are provided with metadata about the numbers and types ofincidents occurring, so as to be able to identify and act on concerning or systemic issues.Implementation actionsImproved record keeping procedures have allowed for a better flow of information about incidents to theCOMDT and the Director ADFA Undergraduates (formerly the DCOMDT).A snapshot of the COMDT’s monthly return register is provided to the COMDT at monthly meetings.Australia’s Federation Guard and ADFA’s postgraduate department provide similar records using thesame template so that the COMDT is aware of the any issues across all of the ADFA campus. 28 Themeetings are chaired by the COMDT, and attended by Director ADFA Postgraduates, Director ADFAUndergraduates, XO Undergraduates, the Adjutant, the Academy Legal Officer, Senior Psychologist anda Chaplain. 29Further to the official monthly reports that go to the COMDT, the XO’s branch has created its ownsquadron level databases for management and pastoral purposes. These are examined weekly by acommittee comprised of the XO, key staff and a Chaplain. This provides a link in the chain of commandby which information can be passed up or down outside of the monthly meetings. 30The COMDT does not provide the entire report that he receives to the Commander, ADC, but hedoes report on all attempts at suicide, significant attempts at self-harm, significant allegations ofunacceptable or criminal behaviour, and all ‘notifiable incidents.’ 31Audit findingsThe reforms to the records management systems have improved the data collected, and improved theprocesses by which this system can be reviewed by the chain of command up to the COMDT.The senior leaders of ADFA, including the COMDT and XO Undergraduates have expressed confidencein the amount and type of information that the new system is providing, and the ability of it to meetthe requirements of the Recommendation. 32 The new system is in its infancy, but it appears to havestrengthened the processes previously in place.Part of Recommendation 28 sought ‘timely and appropriate’ responses to incidents, but the Auditunderstands that the broader Defence processes can mitigate against this. For example, during thecourse of the Audit, the team was made aware of certain incidents that had been under externalinvestigation for months, to the frustration of the undergraduates concerned. 33 There is some evidencethat the length of time external investigations take is a source of frustration throughout Defence, and oneabout which individual units or bases can do little without more systemic reform. 34 ADFA is attempting tomanage these frustrations through its squadron level tracking, and provide feedback to those concernedas investigations continue.112