Four former soldiers have filed a class action against the Australian Defence Force (ADF), alleging widespread sexual assault in the armed forces.
A class action is a type of lawsuit where many people are represented by one entity.
The women’s names have been withheld for legal reasons. They allege widespread and systemic sexual violence, harassment and discrimination across Australia’s Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Here’s what we know so far.
Context
Last year, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide found “close to 800 sexual assaults have been reported in the ADF over the past five years.”
The Department of Defence estimates 60% of incidents go unreported.
Josh Aylward, director of JGA Saddler, the firm representing the applicants in the class action, said: “The threat of war often isn’t the biggest safety fear for female ADF personnel, it is the threat of sexual violence in their workplace.”
Allegations
The first applicant alleged she was sexually assaulted on a night out with colleagues from the Air Force. The incident was reported, but military police did not pursue the case.
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The second applicant reported being subjected to inappropriate comments every day in the Navy. She alleges she was once told: “I wish I was going up [the ladder] behind you so I could sniff what you had for breakfast”.
She also alleges a colleague once grabbed and forcibly kissed her.
The third applicant said she woke up following an on-base party “completely naked, disoriented, in physical pain, and with bruises and scratches”.
She said she was “subsequently informed she had left the party with four male ADF members and was alone at some point with one of them.”
After making a complaint, she said she was confronted “by a friend of her alleged perpetrator who said… ‘how f***ing dare you try to ruin [his] life… you f***ing c**t’”.
The fourth applicant alleges an Air Force colleague rubbed his “erect penis… against the side of her body”.
Class action
The lawyers representing the applicants predict thousands of women will form part of the class action.
Aylward noted some of the cases mentioned had occurred within the last 12 months.
The action is open to any women who experienced sexual violence, sexual harassment, or discrimination while serving in the ADF between 12 November 2003 and 25 May 2025.
