The Australian Defence Force is in hot water after it failed to take any action against an online social media campaign geared to gay bashing.
The attacks came from a Facebook site with the label "bum bandits getting around the ADF'' and was fueled by dozens of ADF soldiers. While senior ADF leaders and the office of the former defence minister John Faulkner received a formal complaint in August last year.
Eight months later, nothing has been done and the investigation into the page and the dozens of ADF personnel who signed on as "friends" has been mothballed. None of the serving members associated with the gay-hate campaign have been disciplined.
One of the people targeted was war hero Major Paul Morgan, an army psychologist who has served in Iraq. He and four other ADF personnel, including two special forces soldiers, were “named and shamed” on the site.
According to the Herald the Aussie government insists it does not have enough cash to investigate the social notworking smear campaign. The ADF had allowed members who are gay or lesbian to serve openly since 1992 and in 2009 had moved to ensure that couples in same-sex interdependent relationships were entitled to the same benefits as married couples.
Failed to act