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

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Chapter 9: Accommodation and Supervision – Recommendations 19-21Audit findingsRecommendation 19 sought an examination of the ‘residential accommodation, including bathrooms,to identify the existence and level of risk to cadets arising from mixed gender living arrangements’. Whatwas provided by the AFP was a broad crime risk assessment of the entire ADFA grounds, namely theexternal environment. The assessment completed is not without merit, but it does not address the intentof Recommendation 19.The CPTED provides for a broad community and crime assessment, rather than the more localisedOHS/WHS assessment of the residential accommodation the Review envisaged and the particularrisks of a mixed gender environment for a cohort of this age. The report contains some interestingobservations about aspects of community at ADFA (e.g. noting that people who feel connected to andresponsible for an area or place will be effective guardians of it), but contained only one brief mentionof ‘shared amenities’ and did not provide any further examination of risks or recommendations in thisarea. The focus of the assessment is on external threats, not threats from within. The report does notacknowledge possible gender differences in experiences of living inside the accommodation blocks(i.e. the lines).The items listed in the pro-forma suggest that this exercise would be a better fit for a larger suburb orneighbourhood, rather than a study of a residential accommodation. Further, the AFP confirmed that theCPTED is generally applied to ‘business areas where we look at crime activities that occur and how wecan eradicate those’ rather than something like the ADFA accommodation. 9The Audit found little awareness among staff and undergraduates of the fact that the AFP hadconducted a situational assessment of ADFA, and there was some degree of hostility when OH&S/WH&S was mentioned. One staff member felt that staff were ‘so busy complying with all the ludicrousgovernance and OH&S crap’ that important tasks became secondary. 10 An undergraduate noted that:OH&S wise, our Divisions are fairly regularly inspected by the staff so if you don’t have it up tothe standard expected, you get into trouble for that – especially cleanliness and hygiene. 11The opinion of many undergraduates is that the living accommodation is generally a safe place, butothers expressed concern when specific incidents or personal experiences were discussed. Forexample, one undergraduate told the Audit that they feel a need to ‘escape’ from their living spaceswhenever possible, as they do not feel comfortable there. 12 Another told the Audit that ‘if I had lived inthe Div or in that section [where a particular incident had occurred] I would have been a bit more jumpyafter that [incident],’ 13 while others mentioned the ongoing existence of practices like ‘dully hunting’as an issue for young female undergraduates. 14 In addition, the 2012 Unacceptable Behaviour Surveyconfirmed that more undergraduates experienced unacceptable behaviour in the residential domain thananywhere else, and this included half of all women, and one-in-five men. 15 These responses indicate thatthere is still the need to conduct the sort of safety assessment envisaged by the Review.82
Recommendation 20: As a priority, to address the issue of isolationand to increase supervision in the residential setting the Commandantadopt a system based on a model of Residential Advisors for eachfirst year Division (one male and one female) who will live in theresidential block to provide after hours supervision. While they maybe recent ADFA graduates engaged in postgraduate study, theResidential Advisors should be outside the cadet structure, andshould have appropriate skills and attributes in leadership, and theability to provide after hours supervision and pastoral care for cadets.They should have a direct line of report to the Commandant in thecase of serious pastoral or disciplinary incidents.Intent of RecommendationA well supervised residential setting can significantly minimise the risk of unacceptable behaviour.Properly selected, inducted, trained, and supported residential advisers could provide valuable guidanceand support to undergraduates.Implementation actionsIn late 2011, ADFA called for nominations for the role of Residential Support Officer (RSO), and on7 December 2011, the COMDT accepted the nomination of eleven applicants. 16 This was an insufficientcohort to staff the RSO scheme as designed (one male and one female officer per Division) however,ADFA was wary of compelling RSOs, as it believed that ‘pressed men and women will not be positiverole models’. 17 The RSOs were all ‘postgraduate students and/or Advanced Students completingundergraduate engineering degrees or honour students’. 18A duty statement was drafted, and it was decided a small level of remuneration would be offered toserving RSOs, however there were difficulties with securing funding throughout 2012. 19 Intervention bysenior Defence personnel was required to settle the matter and organise payment from March 2013. 20The 2012 Duty Statement document outlined the roles and responsibilities for RSOs. 21 Duties included:• giving support to undergraduates in residence• aiding in the resolution of minor issues between cadets• providing moral support and response to short term emergencies• being a presence in the accommodation• making notes of conversations on sensitive or significant issues• meeting DOs and DSNCOs weekly to update them on any non-emergency issues.• being on duty four nights per week if they were the sole RSO in a division, or all seven nights(combined) when they were one half of a pair. 22Audit Report: Review into the Treatment of Women at the Australian Defence Force Academy • 2013 • 83
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Chapter 1:Audit ApproachThe Report
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