The head of a key army recruit training centre has described statistics on bullying and sexual misconduct at his facility as "concerning", during evidence at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
The Commanding Officer at Kapooka, Colonel Andrew Deacon, was asked during hearings at Wagga Wagga, in southern New South Wales, about responses to a 2021 workplace survey at the centre.
The survey revealed 8 per cent of females and 4 per cent of males reported bullying.
It showed instructors were more likely to instigate behaviours such as bullying, sexual misconduct, abuse of power, and violence.
Colonel Deacon was only shown the report for the first time on Tuesday but said the figures were "concerning".
"I will be taking this away once I receive it and looking at it in significant detail," he said.
Recruits in the survey who experienced unacceptable behaviour were much less likely to take action or seek advice, compared to other areas of defence, the survey results showed.
Calls for more clinical psychology support
Colonel Deacon told the royal commission he had lodged a healthcare complaint through the Department of Defence sometime in the past two years because he was concerned there was not enough clinical psychology support available to staff and recruits.
"At the moment, there is some support but there are still some unfilled positions. I would ideally like all of them to be filled," he said.
Colonel Deacon said the roles of three clinical staff were changed about 12 months ago but they were not replaced.
He said there was now a fly-in fly-out service to provide clinical psychology support, which rotated between being on-base for four weeks and telehealth for two weeks.
Commissioner Peggy Brown questioned Colonel Deacon on the adequacy of the fly-in fly-out service.
"Is the current fly-in fly-out telehealth service adequate? Doesn't sound like it from what you've said," she said.
Colonel Deacon said he was worried about whether or not the service met the need for long-term support.
"The concern from me comes not from initial treatment but from ongoing [treatment]," he said.
"If you don't get the lower-priority support, that can escalate into a high-priority support."
Support for involuntarily discharged recruits improves
Colonel Deacon said support for people who were forced to leave the army because of injury had improved.
The royal commission is examining involuntary medical discharge, with higher rates of suicide for men who served with the defence force for less than one year.
Colonel Deacon said he had confidence in the process for discharging recruits, but he said if it could do more the army should.
"A lot has changed recently and for the better," he said.
"That being said, I think we need to have the conversation around that high-risk demographic of the young people separating within 12 months' service in the ADF.
"We should have that conversation — if there is more that we can do, then that's what we should be doing."
