A MESSAGE FROM THE COMMANDANT OF THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE ACADEMY AIR COMMODORE ALAN CLEMENTSWelcome to the first edition of A ‘CRISP’ Way Forward, a publication produced by the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) to provide an update on the conduct of education and training at ADFA.

This year, ADFA celebrates 30 years since its formation. ADFA was created with the vision of providing tri-service military training and a tertiary education to trainee officers of the Navy, Army and Air Force. Since 1986, ADFA has provided a tri-service environment where officer cadets and midshipmen from

all three services can learn and train together, building a stronger understanding and links than otherwise possible from single service and civilian institutions.

ADFA plays a vital role in developing undergraduate physical and mental robustness, instils the right values and attributes in them, develops their leadership skills and prepares them for a military career as the future leaders of our Defence Force.

ADFA has grown in its role since inception, now including postgraduate training, Defence Force Chaplains College and Australia’s Federation Guard. While much of the focus and attention turns to the undergraduate program, these parts of ADFA perform vital roles for the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

This first edition is focused on some of the changes brought about by recent reviews and work done by ADFA personnel.

My team is focused on continuing to make cultural change at ADFA, through enhancing our education and training programs to implementing new procedures in Squadrons.

We are committed to developing the future officers of the Australian Defence Force, imbibing in them our four attributes – principled leader, military professional, student of life and a citizen of virtue.

Alan Clements

Air Commodore Commandant Australian Defence Force Academy

A ‘CRISP’ WAY FORWARD

The Australian Defence Force Academy must be in the forefront; militarily, academically and culturally. In these matters, we must lead and excel.

Issue 1, 2014

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COURAGE · RESPECT · INTEGRITY · SERVICE · PROFESSIONALISM

UPDATESBroderick Review Implementation at ADFA

ADFA has finalised the implementation of the majority of recommendations emanating from the Broderick Review into the Treatment of Women at ADFA. Implementation included:

• Enhanced Equity and Diversity training

• Alcohol review and initiatives, including increased alcohol testing and refined alcohol education programs

• Physical Safety – A detailed analysis of residential accommodation was conducted by the Australian Federal Police and recommendation were implemented

• ADFA Residential Support Officer Scheme established co-located young officers in residences with 1st year cadet to provide after hours support and advice The RSO program has been very successful.

• Unacceptable Behaviour Survey and Feedback – An annual unacceptable behaviour survey was developed and is being administered annually.

• Monitoring and reacting to injury trends – ADFA has initiated detailed data collection of physical training and sporting activities. Data is collected and analysed monthly to identify trends, inform interventions and validate improvements

• Support options regarding health and well being, sexual or personal abuse and violence – officer cadets and midshipmen are provided with posters, quick reference cards and Intranet lists of numbers to call when an incident occurs. ADFA has also developed partnerships with relevant support agencies

Overview of ADFA’s Unacceptable Behaviour Statistics

In 2012, ADFA commenced administrating Unacceptable Behaviour surveys to staff, officer cadets and midshipmen. The purpose of the survey is to gauge the level of unacceptable behaviour occurring at the Academy, the types of unacceptable behaviour that has been encountered and to identify the level of reporting.

In 2013, over 800 ADFA officer cadets and midshipmen completed the Unacceptable Behaviour survey. Overall, the majority believed that unacceptable behaviour was not tolerated at ADFA, that their senior staff supported action on unacceptable behaviour, and that it was worthwhile to make a complaint.

The most common types of unacceptable behaviours were Person-related harassment, Work-related harassment and Discrimination. ADFA continually reminds all personnel of the mechanisms available to report inappropriate behaviour and all reports are acted upon quickly. ADFA has used these survey findings to further refine our unacceptable behaviour training and awareness programs.

A ‘CRISP’ WAY FORWARDMembers of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) hold the exclusive right to exercise organised massed violence on behalf of the Australian nation. Society rightly expects that people who may literally be required to make life and death decisions, will abide by a strong and unwavering ethical code.

As the Defence Force’s pre-eminent tri-service training institution, we are committed to developing the inherent skills of the Australian Defence Force’s future leaders.

ADFA has always held its values in high regard. ADFA’s officer cadets and midshipmen are expected to adhere to the Academy values, in every aspect of their personal and professional lives.

For a number of years, officer cadets and midshipmen upheld the values of: Do your best, be honest, give everyone a fair go and respect others.

To better focus training and education and grow into becoming an Officer in the ADF, this year, the values were changed to: Courage, Respect, Integrity, Service and Professionalism, otherwise known as ‘CRISP’. The values form the foundation from which officer cadets and midshipmen can progress towards embracing their own Service’s values and those of Defence.

Courage: The strength of character to exhibit moral courage and do what is right in the face of adversity.

Respect: To embrace diversity, respect the rights of others and understand that each person has different skills and attributes which are of value to the team.

Integrity: To act honestly, ethically and demonstrate good judgement to do what is right and accept responsibility for actions and choices.

Service: To work towards the success of each other and the benefit of the nation. Work together as a team to serve the Australian Defence Force and our country.

Professionalism: Embracing diversity and treating each other with dignity and respect; it is a critical element of teamwork.

The ADFA values are specific to the requirements of training officer cadets and midshipmen in becoming good officers in their single service. These values are consistent with the various Single Service and ADF values and act as a uniting and unambiguous framework in ADFA’s tri-service training environment.

Officer Cadets and midshipmen are expected to act in accordance with the ADFA values at all times. They are assessed on their adaptation of the CRISP values in assessment as part of ADFA’s military training curriculum and Year Three leadership projects.

FEATURE: RESIDENTI AL SUPPORT OFFICERS GENERATING A WAVE OF CHANGE AT ADFAA program offering additional support to officer cadets and midshipmen in their first year of study and training at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) was introduced in 2012 and is now an important aspect of Academy life.

The Residential Support Officer (RSO) program, an outcome of the Review into the Treatment of Women at ADFA, is broadly based on the model of residential advisors embedded in civilian university colleges. For ADFA this translated into recent ADFA graduates, who are continuing their studies, living within the undergraduates’ accommodation in order to provide additional mentoring and support for the newest ADF members.

This year, 15 RSOs from all three services are living with and mentoring members in Year One divisions. On a day to day basis, this involves the RSO assisting officer cadets and midshipmen in their first year at ADFA with their military training and academic studies, additionally serving as mentors and points of contact for emergency and welfare issues.

“RSOs are there to help with issues within the Division that an undergraduate may not feel comfortable talking to staff about, working through any issues that might occur and

being a friendly ear to talk to,” said SBLT Kieran Davis, who holds a role as an RSO.

According to SBLT Davis, the ADFA RSO Scheme continues to have a positive impact on the behaviour and attitude of the next generation of junior leaders.

“This is our fourth year in the Academy, fifth year in the military in my case and as such we can share our experiences and offer advice to officer cadets and midshipmen in their first year to assist them with their transition into ADFA and military life.”

The RSOs undergo regular customised training as well as weekly training with ADFA staff and are supervised by the Officer Commanding of each squadron. The experience has not only had a positive impact on Year One undergraduates, but on the RSOs themselves who learn from the experience for their future roles as junior leaders in the Defence Force.

Under the watchful eye of SQNLDR Beth Chaffers, Officer Commanding RSOs, and Divisional staff, the RSO program is now part of the fabric of ADFA life. The program is directly supporting ADFA’s staff in promoting a positive culture among the new officer cadets and midshipmen.

This is our fourth year in the Academy, fifth year in the military in my case and as such we can share our experiences and offer advice to officer cadets and midshipmen in their first year to assist them with their transition into ADFA and military life..“

ADFA COMMENCES WHITE RIBBON WORKPLACE ACCREDITATION PROGRAMIn August 2014, ADFA was accepted into the White Ribbon Workplace Accreditation Program. The White Ribbon Workplace Accreditation Program is a 16 month program, recognising workplaces that are taking active steps to prevent and respond to violence against women.

On White Ribbon Night, Friday 25 July 2014, the undergraduate body of the Academy held its inaugural White Ribbon function, which saw the launch of ADFA’s values in correlation with White Ribbon’s mission of eradicating men’s violence against women.

The official guest for the evening was the Head of Joint Capability Coordination, Major General Fergus McLachlan who is a White Ribbon Ambassador himself, and spoke about the obligation that ADF personnel have in the recognition of the issue and of the importance to provide support.

ADFA undergraduate, Midshipman Luke Richmond was also a keynote speaker, who launched ADFA’s campaign and delivered a strong message to his fellow midshipmen and officer cadets.

“ADFA is an institution built on principle and moral fibre. However, nothing reflects an institution more strongly than the actions of individuals who represent it”.

The Academy held a White Ribbon Breakfast on Tuesday 23 September 2014, with the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs AO, CSC RAN as its official guest.

“It is important for our future leaders to fully appreciate the importance of not standing idle and taking positive steps to end men’s violence against women,” said Commander Doug Griffiths, Executive Officer Undergraduates at ADFA.

Along with the Royal Military College – Duntroon, the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army, ADFA is participating in the White Ribbon Workplace Accreditation Program and will continue to proudly support the overall mission of eradicating men’s violence against women.

ETHICAL DECISION MAKING SEMINARIn July this year, five officer cadets and midshipmen from ADFA attended the fourth annual Ethical Decision-Making Seminar, held at the Janet Hall College, Melbourne University.

This seminar is a product of the ‘Linking with Universities to Improve the Development of Young Leaders’ forum, which was established in mid-2011. The purpose of the initiative was to enable collaboration between Defence and the Group of Eight Universities, and foster networking, shared learning and discussions on critical issues facing students as leaders and managers living in a communal environment on-campus.

The conference provided a forum to discuss relevant moral and ethical challenges faced by university students as well as a mechanism to exchange culture. Discussions, presentations and scenario based group activities were utilised to facilitate pro-active student focused debate. These debates addressed a variety of ethical dilemmas concentrated around the issues of healthy relationships in a residential setting, and applying ethical decision making models, as well as ethics in both a sporting and military environment.

The first day of the Seminar commenced with a presentation on the basis of the Ethical Decision Making model facilitated by Dr. Simon Longstaff of the St. James Ethics Centre which set the precedent of ideas of focus for the remainder of the conference. The presentation was structured around the idea that ethics is a part of organisational DNA and the need for leaders to have the professional mastery and moral courage to overcome conditional blindness of being within the institution to seek out the issues.

“I found the conference to be highly stimulating as it enabled me to understand the importance of utilising an ethical framework to further develop my outlook on how decisions should be made,” said Officer Cadet Nick Pullinen.

The lessons were practical and interactive, which formed solid groundings for ethical leadership frameworks relevant to each respective residential setting. The conference established the essential building blocks of ethical leadership and was adaptable to individual situations as well as residential settings.