It's obvious the PM and MND have no shame. The volume of GOFO's that are alleged to have commited some kind of sexual misconduct is incredible. To me it points to a real issue in the quality and nature of the promotions.
I disagree with your premise although I agree that it might look that way and that there clearly are issues that need dealing with.
We'll never come to grips with sexual misconduct issues until we acknowledge that these are issues that permeate all areas of our society where a hierarchical structure exists whether it be high schools, universities, civilian businesses, or the military - anywhere where a person with some power over others can take advantage of the situation. Add to that youth, alcohol and a break down of inhibitions and you end up with situations where people test the line of what is appropriate conduct.
For every individual who one should have known would not measure up to the rank they are being promoted to there are hundreds whose indiscretions or lack of ability are not obvious. I remember once being called out as a duty officer with the MPs to a disturbance at a PMQ that belonged to one of the our most able, immaculately turned out senior NCOs only to find a falling down, violent drunk who lived in a shit pit of a home. Up until the moment I crossed the threshold to his PMQ I never would have suspected it. Some people are good at covering their problems and it would take a much greater effort of digging into their lives than is normal in a society that values freedom and personal privacy.
What bothers me most about this whole sexual misconduct issue with respect to senior leadership is that we are glossing over so many other systemic leadership issues that grip DND. We have been wrestling with various levels of a hollow force for decades. Our procurement system is a moribund. We have capability gaps that have and will result in unnecessary injury and deaths to our troops or will make it impossible to deploy on operations. We can barely maintain the equipment that we do have. Our middle leadership tiers are voting with their feet in droves. All of these issues can be easily traced back to a weak and bureaucratic civilian and military leadership that stretches from the Prime Minister on down yet there has been zero effort to come to grips with it.
There will always be disappointments with respect to the competence or conduct of some of our leadership. That's simply bound to happen. The
Peter Principle is a real thing. The point is that the system ought to be self-healing and be able to deal with its mistakes and move forward. DND hasn't been that way for decades. It's in a spiral. The sooner we realize that the sexual misconduct issues, while real, are a deflection that is keeping us from focusing on the wider leadership failings that permeate the defence structure, the sooner we'll be able to deal with all of it.
