Former Navy recruit Aaron Frazer denied abuse-related PTSD treatment by Department of Veterans Affairs after alleged rape

Updated

A former Defence force recruit is being refused treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder by the Department of Veteran Affairs despite the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce acknowledging he was raped at a Navy recruit school.

Aaron Frazer was training as a recruit at the Navy's HMAS Cerberus recruit school, outside of Melbourne, in 2007.

Mr Frazer says he was raped on January 27, 2007, by fellow recruits as "payback" for getting his dormitory into trouble.

He had not tucked his shirt into his trousers properly and everyone in his dormitory was upbraided by superiors.

"They were angry at me, so it was basically payback for me getting in trouble, which got them in trouble," he said.

As payback from his roommates, he says he was orally raped by two of them, while four others cheered them on and filmed with their mobile phones.

"They basically locked me in there, got their mobile phones out and that was it," he said.

"Calling me a f****** dog c***, numerous other words.

"My head was getting bashed into the side of the locker and they just thought it was all funny."

Defence deleted evidence of assault: Frazer

After the assault, Mr Frazer ran to another division and was taken by an officer to the Cerberus medical centre.

There he was seen by a doctor and visited by military police, but not civilian police.

"I explained to them what happened," Mr Frazer said.

"They reassured me that the photos had been deleted and the video footage had been deleted and there [was] nothing to worry about.

"It didn't sink in that they just got rid of evidence.

[The officer said] 'well what are you going to do if this happens at sea?'. At which point, I said 'well f*** off, send me home'. Aaron Frazer

"It also didn't sink in that they didn't call the civilian police."

Mr Frazer says he was not offered the opportunity to give a formal statement and there are no records of formal statements by any of the officers who saw him at the medical centre.

Defence appears to have virtually no primary evidence of the assault.

Three days after the assault Mr Frazer returned to the recruit school, escorted by an executive officer.

"At the Cerberus recruit school, on the parade ground, there's a sign up that says 'honesty, integrity, courage'," Mr Frazer said.

"And we were walking back, we were about halfway back on the parade ground and I said to him 'sir, can I please change cabins?'"

He says he was shocked at the executive officer's response.

"[The officer said] 'well what are you going to do if this happens at sea?' At which point, I said 'well f*** off, send me home'," Mr Frazer said.

"That was the breaking point for me.

"That was just the straw that broke the camel's back and I realised that if this is his mentality, and he's meant to be the boss, I'm out of here."

DART acknowledged attack, offered repatriation payment

Four years after Mr Frazer's assault, the Australian Defence Force Academy Skype sex scandal broke.*

In response, the Defence Department set up the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce (DART) to deal with hundreds of complaints.**

It picked up Mr Frazer's complaint, which was already on the books.

Mr Frazer was sent a letter from DART which acknowledges that he had been abused at HMAS Cerberus and that Defence had mismanaged his complaint.

It explained that that entitled Mr Frazer to the maximum reparation payment of $50,000.

All I want is treatment - it's not about liability, it's just simply and purely treatment. Aaron Frazer

He was also sent documents about his case.

"A letter that states, from the Ministerial Office for Navy coordination, that two people were charged and both their charges and convictions were upheld," Mr Frazer explained.

Mr Frazer gave all of the $50,000 he received from the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce away.

"I still don't agree with them paying out the money, I think it's hush money, bribe money, whatever you want to call it, blood money."

Mr Frazer's father John Frazer is a former warrant officer who served in the Army for 33 years.

He says the behaviour in his son's case is negligence at best, but he suspects something more mendacious.

"I think it's just arse-covering, to put it quite bluntly; I think it's arse-covering by someone not wanting to appear as if they're not doing their job properly," he said.

Mr Frazer sought treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.

"It's just like a washing machine on spin that won't stop, it's just going and going and going," he said of the disorder.

Not enough evidence of rape: DVA

But the DVA says there is not enough evidence that the incident occurred, despite Defence's admission.

Although two of Mr Frazer's assailants were found guilty in a military prosecution, the DVA has rejected his claim, due to what it says are discrepancies in the different versions of what happened.

The other reason given by DVA for rejecting Mr Frazer's claim is that he had not finished his recruit training - due to end fewer than two weeks after the assault.

DVA issued a formal response saying:

DART Reparation payments are assessed on the basis that an event plausibly occurred. Military compensation legislation is more complex. For liability to be accepted by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) a connection must be established between a diagnosed medical condition and a service-related incident. We cannot comment further on the specifics of this case because it is currently before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The Department's process for assessment and review of cases is fair, transparent and based on the merit of the case. If a client is unhappy with a decision made by a delegate – there are rights of review of the decision that can include an internal review or an external review by the Veterans' Review Board and ultimately the AAT, which is where this case is currently being considered. Mental health support for the veteran and defence community is a very high priority for DVA. The Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service (VVCS) is available 24 hours a day on 1800 011 046.

The Defence Department also issued a response:

Navy is actively engaged with the former member and is working with him to address his concerns. Defence will not engage in public discussion about sensitive personal matters while we are working with the individual to address these issues. To do so would undermine our genuine efforts to engage with complainants in order to understand and address their concerns and may also cause them further harm or distress. Further, any public comment about the individual engagements with the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce, its processes or outcomes would be in breach of mutual confidentiality obligations. Such comment would also undermine confidence in the valuable outcomes provided to complainants and Defence, potentially reducing the willingness of others to participate.

A Navy Commodore has personally formally apologised to Mr Frazer.

Minister for Veterans Affairs, Michael Ronaldson, declined to comment as the case is before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

"All I want is treatment - it's not about liability, it's just simply and purely treatment," Mr Frazer said.

"But they will just not give it to me."

He is now taking psychiatric medication.

He says he drinks and smokes too much, but it is his desperation to get better that has led him to finally speak out.

"I've never approached any media outlets because I'm deeply embarrassed," he said.

"I'm still deeply embarrassed and ashamed and Defence has forced me into this position and DVA have forced me into this position, where I have to come out and tell my story in the hope that they give me treatment."

Mr Frazer's father says he was disgusted at how his son was treated.

"And as an ex-serving member of the ADF, I find it very irresponsible the way they've conducted the whole sequence of events over this incident."

Mr Frazer says he always wanted to join the Navy, but is now faced with spending his days at home, rarely leaving the house.

"I loved it, I loved it. I wanted it to be my career," he said.

"I wanted to be a bosun. I wanted to travel the world and do all that stuff the Navy offers and that was all taken away from me on that day."

Editor's note (4/3/2014): * The ABC originally incorrectly reported that it was the "Navy Skype sex scandal" when the only Navy member involved was a midshipman who was the first person to report the incident via his chain of command.

** The creation of the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce was announced by the Minister of Defence on November 26, 2012, in response to the DLA Piper report. The taskforce is an independent investigator responsible to the Parliament through the Attorney-General and the Minister of Defence. It reports to the Attorney-General and the Minister of Defence. The taskforce operates out of, and is resourced by, the Attorney-General's Department and funded by the Department of Defence.

Topics: navy, defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, sexual-offences, veterans, diseases-and-disorders, mental-health, hmas-cerberus-3920, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted