''Fear of retribution'' and ''complaint fatigue'' have been blamed by the Commonwealth Ombudsman for an unexpectedly low number of complaints about the treatment of women in the Australian Defence Force.
Less than 10 per cent of the 1910 complaints made to the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office between July 1, 2006, and June 30 last year had been lodged by (or on behalf of) women.
Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman, Alison Larkins, has told Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, 11 of the 128 complaints received from women involved claim individuals' careers had suffered because they were female. The Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office has made a submission to Ms Broderick's inquiry into the treatment of women in the Australian Defence Force.
Ms Larkins said 14 complaints involved claims of abuse, harassment or assault. Another 30 dealt with pay, entitlements and working conditions and 17 were about termination of service.
Submissions to the Broderick inquiry close on March 4.
Ms Broderick reported on the first part of her inquiry, into the treatment of women at the Australian Defence Force Academy, late last year. ''Low rates of complaint reporting [to the Commonwealth Ombudsman] may be the result of lack of awareness of the role of our office, fear of retribution or complaint fatigue,'' Ms Larkins wrote.
Acting as the Defence Force Ombudsman, the Commonwealth Ombudsman has the ''specific role of investigating complaints arising from the service of members of the Australian Defence Force''.
A Defence lawyer, who declined to be named, said the Ombudsman's lack of power to enforce its findings made it ''a last resort'' for people with grievances and likely contributed to the low number of complaints it received. Only seven of the 24 submissions to Ms Broderick's latest review appear to have been lodged by women currently serving, or who have served, in the ADF.
Five contain specific allegations of mistreatment, discrimination or abuse while the other two raise concerns the ADF is not ''family friendly'' and say women in the services are often forced to choose between children or a career.
Case studies cited by the Commonwealth Ombudsman suggest the double standard is alive and well.
''Ms C approached our office with a complaint about unfair dismissal,'' the submission states. ''She and a more senior male officer had been caught engaging in inappropriate conduct. ''Ms C was discharged as a result of the incident, however the male officer was allowed to continue in the ADF.''
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