A 2024 book about Institutional Abuse within the Australian Defence Force
Abstract:
“A forensic analysis of how institutionalised abuse in the Australian Defence Force has affected its personnel.
Questions of institutional abuse have been at the centre of numerous royal commissions, inquiries and reviews of the clergy, the police and defence forces over the past decade. This scrutiny has highlighted how those organisations foster forms of violence and violation. One of their principal characteristics is that the culture of abuse and its perpetration is largely the work of men. In Warrior Soldier Brigand, Ben Wadham and James Connor argue that three pillars shape the patterns of abuse in the Australian Defence Force: martial masculinities, military exceptionalism and fraternity. Historically, the military has been an almost exclusively male domain, but since the Vietnam War it has become an all-volunteer force and more culturally diverse, a change that has proven to be profoundly challenging, and one the ADF has not always readily welcomed nor sufficiently addressed. While the ADF may train and accommodate some of the best military personnel in the world, it has not resolved the use of that violent potential against its own. Exploring the fundamental paradox that underpins abuse in the military – an organisation of and for violence -Wadham and Connor report on the shifting landscape of the ADF since 1969, describing military institutional abuse across the decades and asking the question: to what extent can an authoritarian institution liberalise?
AWARDS:
- Shortlisted for the 2025 ACT Book of the Year at the ACT Literary Awards.
“Warrior Soldier Brigand is one of the most insightful, significant examinations of the problems that have existsed in our ADF for decades. It is not understating it to say it is of historic importance. The sheer honesty that shines through these pages is as refreshing as it is inspiring. It is hoped the work helps maintain the momentum for real, lasting change in the ADF, in particular, the support for “an independent mechanism of scrutiny“. Our nation must learn from the past and do better for our veterans and serving members. The work makes the urgent case for reform arguable, and for this it must be highly commended.”
– Nick Kanladas.
Julian Knight is briefly mentioned in this book.
We recommend this book.
How to buy this book:
It is published by and available from Melboure University Press: https://www.mup.com.au/books/warrior-soldier-brigand/9780522879360
