An Australian army brigadier who commands about 3000 soldiers has also detailed hazing incidents and the difficulties in personnel trying to get help for mental health.
Defence force personnel at one of Australia’s largest barracks have to wait up to eight weeks to see a psychiatrist, in a system labelled as “inadequate” by a brigadier in charge of 3000 soldiers.
When asked by counsel assisting Kevin Connor SC whether there were shortcomings with the system in ADF members asking for help, Fegan said from his perspective, there were challenges and frustrations within the defence force regarding psychiatric help. He said an added complexity was that soldiers often did not know what they were doing next week, let alone in a six to eight week time frame.
Fegan was also questioned over the culture at Lavarack Barracks, and said there were instances of unacceptable behaviour that were not aligned to what the army wanted to be.“I’m referring to an incident where a group of soldiers on an exercise chased another soldier in the bush and tried to tie him up, and it was in line with some sort of stupid initiation that particular unit had engaged in over a number of years,” he said.
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