During his address to the Australian Armed Forces, the Chief of the Army furrowed his brow, bared his teeth and blinked only three times while delivering a blistering, steely order for every Australian to take a moral stand against discrimination.

His passionate speech gave me more chills than a Canberra winter and provided a stirring example of how leaders should lead and PR should spin.

While commentators are praising Morrison’s strong stance against “unacceptable behaviour” toward women, let’s just take a minute to reflect on what a momentous occasion and gutsy step forward this is.

This man is one of the most powerful in Australia and has taken to the universal platform of YouTube to administer one of the biggest kick-up-the-fatigues to our troops ever seen by the general public.

“Those who think that it is OK to behave in a way that demeans or exploits their colleagues have no place in this army … On all operations female officers and soldiers have proven themselves worthy of the best traditions of the Australian Army. They are vital to us, maintaining our capability now and into the future, if that does not suit you, then get out.”

The message is clear. The warning is stern. If you’re going to be that person – man or woman – grow up or piss off.

The Australian Army has been riddled with demons who thrive on the degradation of human rights and disturbing attitudes toward women for some time now and the boss has had enough, he’s going to be “ruthless” when it comes to enforcing this cultural shift.

However actions speak louder than words, he and middle management now have to follow through with this public promise of change.

It’s not going to be an easy road. The numerous sex and bullying scandals have well and truly destroyed the joint and it's reputation. In the eyes of the general public officers are no longer considered to be gentlemen.

Our future soldiers grew up in the time of Corey Worthington not Richard Gere and for some sexting, not French or Chinese, is considered a second language.

Those three minutes and seven seconds were Australia’s new age equivalent to Lord Kitchener and Uncle Sam’s call to arms for a revamped defence force.

Whether you are considering becoming an ADF recruit or happy being a civilian – we can all learn something from this speech and, following the week that was in politics, so too can our “leaders”.

While I was watching this video on the Internet on Thursday our female prime minister was being quizzed on talkback radio about her partner’s sexuality and asked to confirm that he is not homosexual. It’s important to note that even Kyle Sandilands, bunny suit and all, shows the respect for the office of the prime minister when he is granted an audience with Julia Gillard.

How I wish she took the advice from Lt Gen Morrison and smacked down 6PR presenter Howard Sattler with that blistering rhetoric she showed us a glimpse of last year during her famous misogyny speech.

Journalist Petra Starke summed it up well tweeting, “Most upsetting thing about this Sattler trash is recognising that moment every woman goes thru (sic); having to ‘play nice’ with an arsehole man.”

We’ve all been there.

“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept,” were Lt Gen Morrison’s sage parting words and I hope this phrase replaces the Southern Cross constellation as the most popular tattoo emblazoned across the biceps of our future cadets, soldiers and officers.

I also hope these words will continue to ring in everybody’s ears, like they will in mine, from this day forward.