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

Organisational PressuresDefence is a large and complex organisation which has many functional units where multiple levels ofauthority may be required to progress initiatives. 15 Communication and driving change in a timely wayacross these functional units can be challenging. An RIT member told the Audit that:The risk is in large organisations when you’ve got to get a lot of components of the organisationto actually work together. It’s a pretty challenging task at the best of times. 16An example of this tension was brought into stark relief with regard to the payment of an allowanceto Residential Support Officers (Recommendation 20). Whilst the scheme was implemented atADFA expeditiously, the process of seeking approval for the RSOs to receive an allowance remainedunresolved throughout 2012, despite the Service Chiefs having agreed to fund the RSO scheme. Inmid-March 2013 this issue was escalated to the Defence People Committee (DPC) where it was finallysettled.In focus groups and interviews the Audit had become aware that the delay in resolving this issuechallenged the very viability of the RSO scheme and was having a direct impact on those who maychoose to be an RSO.ADFA is a busy operating environment and staff have multiple daily challenges to address. While theRIT drives the implementation of the Review’s recommendations, staff at ADFA have been engagedin incorporating the intent of the recommendations. There are real organisational pressures on ADFA.These have been acknowledged in the need for an Establishment Review at ADFA. The background tothe terms of reference for the Establishment Review state that:The incorporation of the Capability and Technology Management College (CTMC), coupledwith the ongoing pressures of the Undergraduate section brought about by the requirements ofthe Broderick Review, staff deficiencies within smaller already attached units (i.e. the DefenceForce Chaplain College) further substantiated the requirement for a review of the Command’sestablishment and organisational structure. 17Further, the terms of reference note that:The recent Defence budget reductions (FY 2012/13 and over the next five years) and APSrationalisation will have a significant impact on the ADFA Command. 18There is no doubt that staff were feeling overwhelmed by the work generated by all the Reviews 19 andthe Defence cuts. 20Quite frankly everybody here at ADFA has a day job and of course the Review ImplementationTeam’s day job was just to force extra work upon these people. 21The Defence budget cuts aren’t helping us because we’re losing some of our civilian staff whoare meant to be there to support the military staff…So military staff are being worked to thebone. 22Units are struggling, everyone’s struggling, I think. It’s not a big issue to cover for it but, ifI’m looking after two Divisions instead of one Division, well obviously there’s more chance ofsomething going wrong. 23Audit Report: Review into the Treatment of Women at the Australian Defence Force Academy • 2013 • 19