Canberra, Dec 2 (IANS) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Matt Keogh, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, announced that the government would establish a separate independent inquiry into sexual violence in the defence force.
The federal government on Monday handed down its response to the landmark Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide, agreeing to 104 of the final report’s 122 recommendations and promising meaningful and enduring reform, reports Xinhua news agency.
They said that the government has agreed that troops convicted of sexual offences — either in civilian courts or the military justice system — should be automatically discharged from service.
“We have the deepest respect for every Australian who wears our nation’s uniform and serves selflessly to keep us safe,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra, “now we will work tirelessly to improve the system and keep them safe too.”
The three-year royal commission handed down its final report in September, finding that 2,007 current or former defence force members died by suicide between 1985 and 2021.
It found that the suicide rate is 24 per cent higher for male veterans and 102 per cent higher for female veterans than for their peers in the general population.
The report identified sexual misconduct as a systemic issue in the defence force.
The government’s response said that the rates of sexual violence reported in the force are completely unacceptable.
It also endorsed a recommendation to add an emotional intelligence consideration for leadership positions.
“Those who are commanding need to have more emotional intelligence rather than less,” Marles said on Monday.
The government rejected the Royal Commission’s recommendation to change the compensation system that currently compensates soldiers injured in warlike operations more than those injured in training.
–IANS
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