Suicide rate 'part of defence culture'----This story
is from AAP
October 03, 2006
ALMOST 80 members of Australia's defence force have killed
themselves since 1997.
The figure, which was released by Labor today after it was informed
by the Government, is below the rate in the general
community.
But opposition defence personnel spokesman Mark Bishop said the
suicides were a result of defence culture.
"Part of preventing such tragedies in the future is the
implementation of the cultural and procedural reforms within the
ADF,'' Senator Bishop said.
There are about 50,000 serving personnel in the ADF, which makes
the frequency of suicides well below one per cent.
The latest figures for the general community show that 1.6 per cent
of all Australian deaths in 2004 were suicides.
Minister Assisting the Defence Minister, Bruce Billson, was not
immediately available for comment on the number of suicides or any
government program to halt them.
Senator Bishop said 49 of those who committed suicide were in the
army, 23 in the navy and seven in the air force.
He said the suicide rate should force the Government into releasing
the findings of a review of suicides.
"The results of this review will let us judge the efficacy of
reforms to date, whether procedural failures and breaches of
privacy have been remedied and (whether) a commitment to changing a
culture of bullying and harassment within the ADF has been
successful,'' he said.
Senator Bishop said 88 cases of sexual harassment were upheld by
the ADF in the past year. Most culprits were either counselled or
told to apologise for their behaviour. No one was dismissed for
such harassment, he said.
Senator Bishop called for Defence to adopt a zero-tolerance
attitude towards sexual harassment and to make sure serious
breaches resulted in dismissal.
We cannot hope to retain, let alone attract new recruits, with
such a comparatively high number of sexual harassment complaints,
he said.
Senator Bishop said 107 cases of sexual harassment were reported in
the 2004-05 year, up from the previous 12-month's figure of 100. Of
the 107 reported cases, 88 were substantiated.
Penalties ranged from culprits being made to apologise to their
victim, counselling, through to formal warnings and severe
reprimands.
2.How is the rate in SAF?Any preventive measures?