Defence’s day of reckoning

A warning before we start. This episode mentions suicide and sexual violence from The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Tuesday, September ten. One of Australia's worst child sex offenders was given a redundancy by Uniting Church Childcare Service with just forty four minutes of official consideration. That's after a colleague had tried to report him for allegedly abusing a child. Ashley Paul Griffith later pleaded guilty

He was so funny. He was the funniest man in the world. When he was working, he could be quite black and white, but when he let his hand down, in his guard down, he was just hysterical. There was never a day that you got out of bed without having laughed.

Benita's daughter, come I Alexander, was a toddler when Andrew became her stepdad, someone she loved a lot. As she grew older, Camiah noticed some of Andrew's personality traits, in particular that he would either be seeking total control of a situation or would be laughing and joking. She put the stress down in part to his sadness over the

We were on a boat with friends and I noticed that fireworks had gone off. And Andrew responded with yelling at the fireworks and saying, don't you know that people have been to war, and he actually broke down in tears.

Camiah was in no doubt it was his war service that had left Andrew in severe distress.

He was unfortunately, very honest about how you would have to do your rounds and around base, you know, monitoring everything. And he had a group of children no older than ten coming up to him and saying, I want you to go check out. There's something down there that I think needs to be looked at, and he's like, well, you walk in front. And he said to me that at that point he had zero regard for their life. You know, if there was a bomb that they were trying to lead him to, he was going to make

When Camaia was aged between six seen at eighteen, Andrew attempted to end his life seven times. After the second attempt, he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and severe anxiety.

He no longer cared for safety. It was like one day went out to corroborreate Billibong and he was chasing crocodiles because he wanted them to eat him. He was just doing all these risky things. He could sleep for days when the depression was really bad, or he could just sit there and do nothing.

In twenty fifteen, Andrew died by suicide. Bonnie Perry said she had tried with no success, to get help for Andrew. She said he was badly mismanaged by the Australian Defense Force. Bonnie said there was a shroud of secrecy about mental health problems. She said Defense sent senior officers to visit him in hospital instead of his mates, and that he wasn't help to access a pension, which left him feeling

I just don't understand how the ADF can see all those suicide attempts. You know, how many red flags do you want? You know, a guy should shouldn't be successful On his eighth attempt. It's crazy.

She described this conversation with a senior medical officer who discharged Andrew from hospital after one of his suicide attempts, and just.

Said, how come Andrew's home And he said, excuse my language, but he said, Bonnie, he's not a threat to himself or to take his life. He said. I just told him he's a shit husband that really needs to learn how to treat women better. I told him that I wanted him to go for five days, not contact you, and go away and have a good heart think about things. And then at eight point thirty the police car rocked up out of the front and I knew it as soon as I saw him. I said, he's gone, as

That story is part of the catalyst for a shocking report tabled in Federal Parliament. It found sixteen hundred and seventy seven serving and ex serving defense personnel died by suicide between nineteen ninety seven and twenty twenty one. That's more than twenty times the number killed in active duty

It's a shocking report, Claire, and it shines a light on what's a terrible national tragedy.

Joe Kelly is The Australian's National Affairs editor. The report was commissioned by the Morrison government under pressure from veterans bereaved families, and now it's the Albanese government which will have to handle the response.

We will work across the Parliament on those issues and do what we can to ensure that just as our veterans and defense personnel step up for our country, we have an obligation to step up for them.

I look forward to doing what we can on this side, to work in good nature and with honor with the Minister to make sure whatever can be done can be done as quickly and as properly as possible and to the best of our ability.

The Labor Party in the coalition believes there is a significant problem, that this is a national failing, that governments of Labor and conservative characteristics have let down veterans in the past. They've been let down by Defense, they've been let down by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it must be fixed. Very encouraging, but the second point is

Coming up, Defense's sexual violence problem. Subscribers to The Australian get access to this kind of in depth reporting and analysis twenty four to seven. Check us out at the Australian dot com dot au and we'll be back after this break.

So I guess my story starts back in a little country town where I was looking for opportunities to have a career, get something outside of a small country town. And one day one of those Defense Force recruitment vans pulled up in the main street and I took my look at it and went, that's for me. This is my ticket out of town.

That's the voice of Danny Levisage. He's describing how in nineteen eighty eight he said goodbye to his tiny hometown of Dalsford in Victoria and set off for what he hoped would be a long career in the Air Force.

My dad was very proud of me. He was very proud of me joining, and he was very proud to be there that day, as was my whole family and friends to see me graduate.

Danny became known as the twenty year Man among his fellow emen because of his aspiration to retire at age forty two with a full military pension. But less than two years after celebrating his graduation, Danny would be discharged from Defense. Danny is gay, which was unacceptable under the Defense Act, legislation that was drafted in nineteen oh three and was still in effect in the late eighties and early nineties. An excerpt of the Act is being read by a voice actor.

Homosexual behavior is not a accepted or condoned in the Defense Force. Members can be and are regularly discharged for a variety of reasons. Not listed in the DFDA. ADF policy is that members who engage in consenting homosexual behavior be treated in a similar fashion, sympathetically and with discretion.

Danny Livisige had been observed visiting gay bars in and around Melbourne, and so he was hauled in for an interview and asked to explain himself.

Eventually, their questioning got down to lac levisage, are you a homosexual? And it was the very first time I ever said it out loud. Yes, I believe I'm a homosexual. They forced me to put a tag on myself, which I wasn't prepared at that stage to put that tag on myself.

It was a traumatic experience, and I'm.

Sitting there terrified, absolutely terrified. I've been humiliated. I'm feeling absolutely ashamed of myself. I hate myself for this aspect to myself that I've just been forced to put a tag on by someone else sitting on the table with four people. And it got worse from there. In didn't get better.

Danny was told homosexuality was incompatible with military service. Senior personnel said he'd be outed, dishonorably discharged and his training records would be withheld if he didn't leave then and there of his own volition.

And they effectively told the twenty year man that your career is over and here are you three terrible options. One's not so bad, one's really bad, and one's just to go nowhere option and threatening dishonorable discharge and withholding of the records was apparently their sympathetic way of dealing with the homosexual in the Air Force.

Danny lived on base, so he lost his job and his home. He didn't have time to say goodbye to his friends or explain what was happening, and he wasn't allowed to keep any insignia issued over the course of his service. With no support nowhere Togo, he slept the next two nights in his car. What followed was a cycle of depression, anxiety, substance use and suicidal ideation.

At that point in time, I'd gone from being a loyal, committed, enthusiastic member of the Air Force to jobless, unemployed, homeless living in my car, surrounded my possessions in the space of less than two weeks. That was a lot for a twenty three year old to be dealing with at that point in time. That jehole career has gone up and smoked in two weeks, and you're now living in your car on the side of the street. That's what they did to me.

The ban on gay and lesbian personnel in the eightyf was lifted by the Keyting government in nineteen ninety two, just two years after Danny Leversage was bounced out of the force. It took three decades for his story to be heard at the Royal Commission and hopefully for change to follow. One of the report's most stark findings is that this problem is not just about suicide, it's the physical safety of personnel serving today in military jobs. Here's Joe Kelly.

There is a problem with sexual violence in the ADF, the majority of which is obviously perpetrated by men, but the report says this is a highly concerning development. It says that close to eight hundred sexual assaults were reported in the ADF over the past five years, and Defense estimates that sixty percent of sexual assaults are not reported

Joe Kelly is the Australian's National Affairs editor. Thanks for joining us on the front and please join us subscribers at the Australian dot com.

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