Combet savaged over combat women
ABC News
Posted 11 hours 28 minutes ago
Updated 4 hours 51 minutes ago
Defence Personnel Minister Greg Combet has found himself in the firing line over a new drive which could see Australian women serving in frontline combat missions in countries like Afghanistan.
The Government wants to attract more women to the Australian Defence Force by removing blanket restrictions which stop women from joining frontline infantry units, including the commandos and the SAS, as well as taking on certain roles in the Navy and Air Force.
He says the Federal Government wants to break down gender barriers in the ADF by reviewing who does what based on physical capabilities, rather than gender.
But Mr Combet says the Government will not make any decision until the new physical standards are finalised, which he says could be several years away.
"At this stage no decisions have been taken in relation to that and it's important to note that women are already undertaking a significant number of very important roles within the ADF," he said.
Mr Combet says 92 per cent of jobs within the ADF are already available to women and several have served in deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor. Women now make up around 13 per cent of ADF personnel but the Government would like that number to be much higher.
But Liberal backbencher and former infantry officer Stuart Robert has branded Mr Combet's push to have women on the frontline as "outrageous", saying he needs to "think before he opens his mouth".
The Member for Fadden had a 12-year career in the military and served in a peacekeeping force in Bougainville after its civil war.
He has urged the Government to think "long and hard" before it allows women on the frontline.
"My concern is that really only Israel and a handful of countries whose very existence is threatened have gone down this path - the rest of the Western world hasn't," he said.
"[Mr Combet] has never parachuted at night in the rain, he's never carried a mortar baseplate for 50 kilometres in a route march.
"For him to stand there and give his opinion and push the Government into something is simply outrageous."
A high-ranking Australian Army officer has backed Mr Combet's move.
Speaking from Darwin's Robertson Barracks, 1st Brigade Commander Brigadier Michael Krause says it has been an "enormous generalisation" that women are not strong enough for the job.
"It's not gender-based that they're doing this, they're doing this based on the requirements of the task, and the task is not going to change," he said.
"All they're really saying is ... that if you're fit enough, and you're strong enough to do the job, you can do the job - whether you're female or male."
New South Wales Labor MP Lynda Volz, who was in the Army until 1993, also lent her support.
"You talk to any men who do triathlon and marathon running and ask them if there are not a few women out there that are freaks of nature that beat them home every time," she said.
"There are some very physically and mentally strong women and if they are capable of doing the course physically they should be allowed to."
'Leave it to the military'
But Opposition Defence personnel spokesman Bob Baldwin says there is no public clamour for women to be given more combat roles.
"Whether women should be on the frontline ... is a question that is yet to be resolved, [but] I don't think that public opinion in Australia is ready to support that at this stage, and neither is the Coalition."
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says there is room for a discussion, but any decisions on the matter should only be made by those with first-hand knowledge of military demands.
"The primary objective has to be the safety and the effectiveness of our armed forces, that's something that I'm sure we'll have an informed discussion on, and it should be led by those with real knowledge, real frontline experience in the field," he said.
Who's strongest?
The long-standing logic in the ADF is that men are stronger than women, so women cannot do everything men can.
"It is perfectly valid to argue that all categories should be open to women, the only exceptions should be where the physical demands cannot be met regardless of gender according to criteria that are determined on the basis of scientific analysis rather than cultural assumptions," Mr Combet said.
Mr Combet has told Parliament that the Defence Science and Technology Organisation will develop a new set of physical employment standards, which will determine who is fit to do what.
"The development of these new standards will also help inform the Government on the appropriateness of the possible expansion of the roles that women can play in the ADF," he said.
"A priority of the Government is to improve the recruitment and retention of women in the ADF."
But the executive director of the Australia Defence Association, Neil James, has serious doubts about the minister's plan.
"Physical employment standards are already the prime criteria, you'd have to wonder who's been briefing him," he said.
"Some of his reported comments just don't seem correct - they don't reflect what reality is.
"The whole idea that the current policy is discriminatory [is false], I mean it's not discriminatory in a gender-equity sense at all."
'Laws of physics''
Mr James says the ban on women performing certain roles in the military is for good reasons.
"I don't think the people of Australia would like to see their daughters, sisters, wives or female friends killed in disproportionate numbers to male service personnel," he said.
"It's a simple physicality thing. On the battlefield, academic gender equity theory doesn't apply. The laws of physics and biomechanics apply."
Mr James says there is also evidence that male soldiers are overly protective of women in the battlefield, which is a distraction from the task.
Eva Cox from the Women's Electoral Lobby says that is an outdated argument.
"Grow up, I mean get over it, because that's something that comes out of some very ancient views about women and chivalry," she said.
"I don't think most men, most young men these days, are particularly aware of it.
"Modern younger men don't share those sorts of views and I think they'll learn how to take care of their companions regardless of whether they're male or female in a way that's most appropriate.
"Being told that you can't do something, that you're not allowed to do something, that you're inadequate in some way to do it, or that you're going to be just so distracting that nobody else is going to be able to do their job properly, I think it undermines the whole way that the culture or organisations work."
Viewed 09/09/09 at 19:17
