Former deputy commandant warned Australian Defence Force Academy not the best way to train next generation of officers

Updated

A former Australian Defence Force Academy official warned in a confidential submission two years ago that the Canberra institution was "not the most appropriate way" to train officer cadets.

A Four Corners investigation into sexual abuse at ADFA has uncovered cases of rape and sexual assault from the 1990s where the alleged perpetrators are either serving ADF officers, or are still working for Defence.

In a confidential submission to the Broderick Review, obtained by the ABC, the Academy's then-deputy commandant, Paul Petersen, said: "ADFA is an expensive undertaking, and it is my view that a Defence Academy is not the most appropriate way of delivering an undergraduate education to the officers of the ADF."

The Academy's deputy commandant between 2009 and 2012, Mr Petersen estimated the cost of putting each cadet through the military college was about $300,000.

He told Four Corners: "If you're going to pay that amount of money you want an absolute guarantee of what you're getting.

"No matter how many resources you pour into the Academy you can't eliminate the risk of future bad behaviour."

The former colonel also expressed frustration at the fact it took two-and-a-half years to sack Daniel McDonald, the ADFA cadet who secretly filmed himself having sex with a first-year RAAF officer.

In March 2011 the scene was streamed via Skype without the woman's knowledge to a group of six male cadets in a nearby room.

As deputy commandant, Mr Petersen helped manage the fallout of what became known as the Skype sex scandal.

McDonald was sacked in November last year over the incident, after being found guilty in the ACT Supreme Court of committing an act of indecency and using a carriage service in an offensive manner.

ADFA officials did not have the power to remove cadets from the military college, Mr Petersen said.

That responsibility rests with the chiefs of Army, Air Force and Navy.

"ADFA will be eternally vulnerable to the risks of misbehaviour by its students," Mr Peterson wrote in his submission to the Broderick Review.

After the woman known only as 'Kate' took her story to the media, then-defence minister Stephen Smith launched seven reviews and one high-level inquiry.

ADFA assault victim sceptical about Defence abuse response

Many of the sexual assault victims in the cases uncovered by Four Corners made formal complaints at the time, but the cases have not been dealt with by the Government's Defence Abuse Response Taskforce (DART), set up to assess complaints of abuse.

One victim of sexual abuse has told Four Corners of her distress at having to serve alongside her alleged rapist.

Another woman sexually assaulted at ADFA believes the DART process is flawed and remains sceptical about Defence's commitment to delivering justice.

"Why would anyone trust in the system now that they couldn't have trust in and were let down in all those years ago?" she asked.

Another former ADFA cadet, Kellie Gunnis, did not know DART existed until she was approached by Four Corners.

"When [DART] was mentioned to me for the very first time, I was in complete and utter shock," Ms Gunnis said.

"How can they have this whole taskforce, have this whole system set up for people who had been through what I'd been through, and we weren't made aware of it?"

DART chairman Len Roberts-Smith says he has found the problem of abuse to be larger than has so far been publicly acknowledged.

Chief of Defence David Hurley says he is still looking at how to deal with what could be hundreds of names of alleged perpetrators.

Concern not all victims reporting crimes: Defence Minister

Defence Minister David Johnston says he is concerned that victims of sexual abuse in the Defence Force may not be reporting the crimes to authorities.

He says the Government and Defence hierarchy are considering how to manage the allegations.

"We are looking at ways to remediate the situation lawfully ... we can't unilaterally start to punish people when we don't have formal allegations," he said.

"This is the problem we are confronting."

Do you know more? Contact investigations@abc.net.au

Watch the program on the Four Corners website.

Topics: defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, sexual-offences, law-crime-and-justice, australia

First posted