Tri-Service
Cadets Tell Inquiry They Were Raped During Training
Former military cadets have told a child abuse inquiry they were raped by staff and forced to have sex with each other.
They say the attacks were often part of initiation practices in the Australian military going back to 1960.
More than 100 people have contacted the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse to make the allegations of abuse between the 1960s and 1980s.
The inquiry will hear from more than a dozen of them with some describing the “vicious and humiliating” attacks on men and women who were as young as 15 when they were sexually abused.
Some former Australian Defence Force recruits told the commission they were physically punished or threatened with dishonourable discharge when they complained.
The commission is also investigating the measures the military’s current child protection programme is undertaking.
It currently has around 25,000 cadets.
The Royal Commission was set up in 2013 to investigate the sexual abuse of children in institutions across Australia.
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