THE Australian military is facing another sex scandal just weeks after it handed down wide-ranging reviews of Defence culture, including how to handle sexual abuse and the treatment of women.
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A 23-year-old male soldier has been arrested and charged with raping a 21-year-old female civilian at Canberra's Royal Military College, Duntroon. He is due to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court today.
ACT Policing arrested the man after responding to a report of a sexual assault at Duntroon early on Thursday.
Police said the alleged victim contacted them at 2am to report that a man known to her had sexually assaulted her before fleeing.
Police later located a man in the grounds of Duntroon and charged him with two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
A Defence spokesman confirmed that a member of the Australian military had been charged with alleged sexual offences.
''The Australian Defence Force Investigative Service is assisting the Australian Federal Police in their investigation,'' he said. ''Defence is providing welfare support to the member.''
The charges come in the wake of the Australian Defence Force Academy so-called ''Skype scandal'' last year, in which an 18-year-old cadet alleged she had been filmed and broadcast without her knowledge during a consensual sexual encounter.
In response, Defence conducted a review of that incident as well as broader reviews of Defence culture, which led to a flood of claims of abuse.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith released findings of the reviews last month.
The initial DLA Piper review of allegations of abuse - some of them going back 60 years - found 775 fell within the terms of reference. Mr Smith said the overwhelming majority were plausible.
On Thursday, Mr Smith announced that the full DLA Piper report on the allegations was running late. The minister was initially due to receive the report at the end of March; it is now expected mid-April.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick's general review into women in Defence will be handed down later this year.
Last month, the Chief of the Defence Force, David Hurley, said Defence was committed to tackling its cultural challenges ''at their source''.
''There are serious issues that we must address,'' he said.
With AAP
