The Defence Force is implementing recommendations from an independent report that assessed the level of sexual harassment within the Defence Force. Photo / NZPA
Defence Force leaders hope an influx of junior recruits after high levels of attrition won’t lead to an increase in sexual assaults by Defence Force members.
The comments from Air Force chief Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Clark come as he and Defence Force chief Air Marshal Kevin Short appeared in front of MPs to answer questions on an independent audit that found nearly a quarter of young women surveyed in the New Zealand Defence Force had experienced “inappropriate sexual behaviour” in the past year.
The audit, by Auditor-General John Ryan and published in March, included a survey of about half of the 12,500 NZDF personnel and also found 78 people had been sexually assaulted in the past 12 months.
The Defence Force implemented “Operation Respect” in 2016 to stamp out sexual abuse, assaults and harassment. Ryan said although there had been some positive changes, the Defence Force lacked a clear and well-considered strategy and conditions remained that allowed “harmful behaviour to occur”, especially for women.
Clark and Short, appearing before the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade select committee today, all 11 recommendations from the audit would be or had been implemented.
However, the Defence Force’s high level of attrition - about 2700 personnel had left in recent years, including 30 per cent of leaders or supervisors - meant of the roughly 1800 recruits over the same period, most were under 25 years old.
Clark acknowledged sexual assaults predominately occurred among junior Defence Force personnel and attrition could influence an increase in assaults.
“If you’re just looking at those statistics, you might expect the statistics to go up,” he told reporters.
“But we’re also introducing a number of initiatives, including the baseline sexual ethics training for people when they walk in the front door.
“So, I would be hopeful that you’re not going to see a spike because what I’d like to see is that our training courses are actually working.”
Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman, a member of the select committee, said assaults increasing as a result of high attrition was a “huge concern”, but she also stressed the importance of continuing training with older members of the Defence Force to ensure they were aware of their responsibilities.
Of further concern for Ghahraman was Short’s comments that Defence Force base commanders had been asked to develop plans to educate personnel and respond to any future sexual harassment and assault issues seemingly without input from affected groups such as young women or members of the rainbow community.
“I do have a concern that the leadership of the military are not seeing the cultural problem as being primary to what has happened within the military,” she told the Herald.
“What this report highlights is not only that a really concerning level of sexual harassment is happening but that until this report, the culture of the military was that it was happening with impunity and I am concerned that the same leadership at base level is now responsible for fixing that problem. That is alarming to me.”
During the select committee, Ghahraman requested the pair report back on how groups most at risk of sexual harassment had been included in development plans to address it at the various bases.
Defence Minister Andrew Little said he was confident the induction for new Defence Force personnel was “much more conscious” of issues that underpin sexual harassment and sexual violence.
“I’m confident that the path that NZDF has set themselves on, with the oversight of the Auditor-General’s office, they will improve and they are improving.”
Short admitted there had been barriers within the Defence Force to people reporting incidents, particularly concerns about keeping it confidential.
He didn’t believe a recent surge in reporting meant an increase in incidents, but instead reflected people’s willingness to report as there was now a confidential reporting tool supported by sexual assault prevention teams on each base.
Short also expressed his concern that the Defence Force had lost 30 per cent of its skilled leaders and supervisors amid those who had left.
About 65 per cent of personnel who had left had completed exit surveys. About 15 per cent of those surveyed said some degree of bullying, harassment or discrimination had been one of the reasons that informed their decision to leave.
Little, who also addressed the committee today, defended the decision to decline Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu’s request for New Zealand and China to re-engage in joint military exercises after speaking with his counterpart in Singapore last week.
Short told members there had been joint exercises before 2019 but nothing had been done since.
Little said his response to Li’s request was that New Zealand intented to keep the military relationship with China at a “high level”, chiefly through maintaining dialogue, and promoted New Zealand’s position that major world powers had points of contact as a way of “mitigating risk of unplanned or unintended consequences”.
Little disagreed the refusal indicated New Zealand wanted to keep China and the actions of its military at arm’s length.
“We have a good relationship with China. The military [relationship] is one that is reasonably new and not one that we want to advance, particularly at this particular point.”