Sex scandal ensnares Australia's military brass

Apr 6, 2011, 8:05 GMT

Sydney - Australia's military chiefs were Wednesday branded 'completely stupid' for disciplining an 18-year-old recruit who had complained to them that a fellow cadet had secretly rigged up a video feed to broadcast a sex session to six of his mates in another room.

The woman, who told a television network she was unhappy with the sanctions imposed on those involved, was hauled before an Australian Defence Force Academy disciplinary panel on an unrelated matter.

'I very strongly believe that the holding of such a hearing today, in the aftermath of these events, is not only inappropriate, insensitive and wrong - it's almost certainly faulty at law,' Defence Minister Stephen Smith said.

He ordered the conviction against her quashed and declared the Defence Force was 'completely stupid' for taking disciplinary action on an unrelated matter when a far more serious incident was being investigated.

The woman told the television network earlier this week that she learned of the deception and voyeurism after another recruit reported it.

'It was like my whole world came crashing down around me,' she said. 'They had to read the statements that the boys had to make and I actually threw up. I had to be asked to be excused from the interview because it made me physically ill.'

Smith upheld the woman's right to go public.

'I believe a public airing of this issue in all of the circumstances was appropriate,' he said. 'I don't believe the young woman concerned should be viewed poorly or dimly as a result of bringing this matter to public attention.'

The case follows on the heels of a report on the antics of sailors aboard HMAS Success, where drunkenness and public sex went unpunished. The report spoke of a 'predatory sexual culture' where bets were taken by male sailors on who could bed female sailors during a 2009 tour of Asian ports.

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