Mrs ELSON —My question is addressed to the Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel. Minister, what are you doing about continuing claims of sexual assault and harassment in the Royal Australian Navy? Are appropriate structures in place to counter such alleged incidents?

Mrs BISHOP —I thank the honourable member for her question. I know she, like I and other women on this side of the House, is concerned that young women are not deterred from having a career in the Australian defence forces. Reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault do indeed affect the decision of young women to seek a career in the Australian Defence Force.

Earlier this year I tabled the Burton and Quinn reports. As a result of the Burton report, we established an equity organisation designed to deal with this sort of problem. Despite the good work that is being done there, we are still continuing to have the sorts of reports that were in both the Bulletin and the Sun-Herald newspaper articles. There is sufficient concern that today there are terms of reference being settled by the personnel executive of the Defence Force, to be signed off by the CDF, which will enable an investigation to take place, particularly of behaviour at ADFA where a number of the reports emanate.

The important thing is that we want confidence to be restored. Accordingly, there will be contained in those terms of reference the need to identify and eradicate any incidents of repeating offences—that is, a single individual may be reported on one occasion but no action is desired by the complainant at that particular time; however, that person could offend again. That is totally unacceptable. The Defence Force has a policy that zero sexual harassment and sexual assault is acceptable. To achieve that, we need to continue to have a very strong backup situation whereby, even if the complainant says that she or he does not want any further action taken, it is neces sary that the offence is still formally reported in order that it can be dealt with.

With regard to sexual assault, it is necessary that civilian police forces be involved, that it is not dealt with simply by the Defence Force, in order that proper transparency is always available in the prosecution of those cases. That agreement has been reached. If a person is acquitted or fails to be convicted by a civilian court, there is available action for the Defence Force to take only if the DPP agrees to it. That also requires looking at because it is not always forthcoming in some instances I have seen where perhaps it should have been.

All those issues need to be looked at. But, at the end of the day, we must ensure that our policy is pursued rigorously, that zero is the acceptable level and that young women are not deterred from finding a very successful career in the Australian Defence Force.