Firstly, “Voluntold” is a slang term that describes being forced or compelled to volunteer for a task, essentially when someone is told to volunteer instead of making the choice themselves. It is the opposite of genuine volunteering and often applies to an unpleasant or unwanted obligation. The term combines “volunteer” and “told” and is frequently used in military, work, and other social contexts.
Secondly, at woke Canberra’s Australian Defence Force Academic (ADFA) otherwise known as its ‘Abusive Deranged Feral Asylum‘, we read as follows:
‘Directive to defence force cadets for Wear it Purple Day could amount to ‘unlawful order’, says soldier-turned MP Phillip Thompson’
[SOURCE: 28th August 2023, by Patrick Hannaford, Digital Reporter, Sky News, https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/directive-to-defence-force-cadets-for-wear-it-purple-day-could-amount-to-unlawful-order-says-solderturned-mp-phillip-thompson/news-story/dcffccddf6fb5099dbc73f81fbd1a28c#%23comments ]
<< A former soldier-turned MP has slammed the Australian Defence Force Academy after cadets were sent a directive stating that wearing their uniforms on “Wear it Purple Day” would be seen as “a protest” that is “not in line with Defence policy”.
There are reports that ADF cadets were “pressured” to remove their uniform on Friday and wear purple to celebrate ‘Wear it Purple Day’…
The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) may have issued an unlawful order to cadets who were told not to wear their military uniforms on Wear it Purple Day – an annual awareness day for “rainbow young people”. Students at the elite military college have complained they felt pressured to wear purple clothing last Friday after they were issued with instructions not to wear their military uniforms and told that doing so would be seen as a protest.
Speaking to Sky News Australia , shadow assistant defence minister and Afghanistan veteran Phillip Thompson said the ADFA directive was contrary to the culture of the Australian Defence Force and could amount to an unlawful order.
“Telling our junior officers in training – our ADFA cadets – that it would be a protest if they wore the Australian Defence Force uniform, and they must wear the colour purple, I do think wouldn’t comply with a lawful order,” Mr Thompson said. “I also think that it’s very strange because the uniform, the ADF uniform, brings us all together. “No one in defence cares what race you are, what background you’ve come from, or your sexual orientation. You’re there to do a job.
The Herbert MP, who served in the Royal Australia Regiment between 2006 and 2011, said that the role of the ADF is “to fight in and win our wars” and that “pressuring our junior leaders” to do things like support Wear it Purple Day would “change the culture going forward, and not in the right direction.”
On Sunday the ABC reported that ADFA recruits had been sent an instruction stating them that no one was to wear their uniform on Wear it Purple Day, and if they did it would be seen as “a protest” that is “not in line with Defence policy.”
“Please remember it is Wear It Purple Day tomorrow and the dress is civilian attire. No one is to wear uniform!” the instruction said. “Please ensure personnel remember this as wearing of uniform tomorrow will be seen as an active protest against LGBTQIA+, which is not in line with Defence policy. “Additionally, anyone in uniform will be required to explain why they have chosen to disobey a direct command from the CO.”
Students at the Australian Defence Force Academy say they were told wearing their uniform on Wear It Purple Day would amount to a protest that is “not in line with defence policy” .
The Australian Defence Force said in a statement that it “continues to improve workplace culture to enhance capability and performance through diversity and inclusion activities”. Defence personnel voluntarily participate in a range of diversity and inclusion events throughout the year at a group, service or local community level,” a spokesperson said.
On 24 August 2023, Australian Defence Force Academy students and staff were asked to wear civilian attire and, if they wished, to wear something purple in recognition of ‘Wear it Purple Day’.”
According to Mr Thompson – who was wounded by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan – said the ADF may say its “all voluntary” but that “in the military, it’s called voluntold.”
“It’s something that we’ve all experienced, being ‘voluntold’ to do something,” the soldier-turned MP said. But I want ADFA, I want our defence force to be prepping – to be getting ready, to be combat ready, mission ready. To understand that warfighting is something that is a core business of the ADF. I think that we’re losing track and losing sight of what the role is and the mission is; you know, be mission focused and be getting prepared.”
Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie, an ADFA graduate and former captain in the Special Air Service Regiment, slammed the ADFA directive as “not in the spirit of ANZAC”.
Hastie:
“The ADF leadership should only be insisting on adherence to its values: service, courage, respect, integrity and excellence,” Mr Hastie said. “To go beyond those values and ram home a political agenda — as they have with Wear it Purple Day — is to trample on our diggers and their freedom of conscience. That is not the spirit of ANZAC: it is coercive behaviour, and it is unacceptable.”
‘Wear it Purple Day’ is another recent leftist woke construct. It was ‘conceived’ by two radical homosexual students, Katherine Hudson and Scott Williams (below), attending Melbourne’s far left LaTrobe University in 2010 during homosexual ‘Pride Month’ (February) who got on the weed and conjured up ‘Wear it Purple Day’. They chose the last Friday of August each year to ram their cult of lesbianism down the throat of normal natural heterosexuals as a winter reminder.
Then in 2023, a hardly combatant type cutie (below) since tried to ram that woke extremism down the throats of military cadets at ADFA.
Would she force vegetarians to eat red meat, or sashimi, or deep-fried tarantula?
Wear It Purple Day returned on Friday 29 August 2025 and this year’s theme was ‘bold voices, bright futures‘. So don’t join the Army because doing the former will not generally reward you with the latter.
On the said Friday compelled to take the big bitter purple pill, for the fighting heterosexual males (and females) next year don your best starched uniform all day with ‘pride‘. Else for the compliant ambitious senior brass focused types destined for either a comfy role in Canberra or Command HQ or Ordnance Corps (RAAOC) folding blankets, best you just diplomatically call in sick that day!
<< In Australia, the Writing Themselves In 3 (2010) report by La Trobe University, which explored the health and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ young people, saw that LGBTQIA+ youth experienced high rates of discrimination, high rates of poor mental health, and homelessness. This was further corroborated by news stories of bullying and harassment and its impact on LGBTQIA+ youth, including a number who took their own lives (Minus18, 2024).>>
LTGEN David Morrison as Chief of Army (2011-2014) actively invited LGBTQIA+ to join up.
<< In 2015, our Dave [after being shown the door] was appointed Chair of the Diversity Council Australia. He has been named the Australian of the Year for 2016. Throughout all this, David has remained close to ANU. In 2014, he addressed the ANU National Security College on gender equality and spoke to the ANU Gender Institute in February 2015. >>
[SOURCE: Google AI]
RMC Duntroon senior cadets would decimate them within a week.
Meanwhile…embrace inclusion of diversity including alternative bush tucker…
David Morrison AO, who was shown the door, went in 2015 straight to becoming Chair of Diversity Council Australia [Read More], who appears in the campaign video #WordsAtWork, stressed the critical role language plays in shaping workplace cultures, so reckoning…
Five steps to inclusive language:
1. Context matters
Language that may be fine outside of work can be non-inclusive at work. Sometimes people can use terms about themselves or their friends that are not appropriate for others to use about someone in a work context.
2. Keep an open mind
Be open to changing what you have always thought is ‘normal, respectful and appropriate’ to say. You don’t have to be perfect – just be willing to learn.
3. If in doubt, ask
If you’re not sure what terminology someone prefers, just ask them! Ask the person or contact organisations which make up and represent given diversity groups.
4. Focus on the person
Focus on the person first, rather than the demographic group they belong to. Only refer to an individuals age, cultural background, gender etc. if it is relevant.
5. Keep calm and respond
Sometimes our unconscious biases mean we can say things that exclude others – even when we do not intend to.
[SOURCE]
So be inclusive of diverse cultures…treat them as family!
And accept diversity:
Reader Comments to the SkyNews article:
Paul
Who Pushed The Woke Button And Started The Rainbow War. What A Total Joke. It’s No Wonder Police And ADF Are Leaving In Mass. When Political Correctness Overrides Common Sense.
Pat Ryot
Stick to the job. Political activism has no place in the ADF or policing for that matter.
PeeWee
What a woke joke this place is becoming. If those forcing their ideas onto others who will suffer if they don’t obey is a bloody disgrace and any government who thinks it’s ok should be given the flick. Good on those standing up against the insanity.
Mark
This is the reason applications to the military have fallen dramatically across the Western Democracies. The construction of what it means to be a warrior as a real man real woman not man-woman woman-man determined as perversion is normalised with the usual Marxist WOKE Regressive Pathological Altruist compassion paradigm vengeance against not only those who rationally reject such perverse construction of warrior but the dangerous effect on patriatism, martial spirit such a policy has on existing military personnel and those potential altruists prepared to lay down their lives for their nation based upon a perception their social constructs are worth their ultimate sacrifice.
The WOKE vision forced on us and the military isn’t for me any longer worth anyone sacrificing their life for.
S H G
In a war, the enemies do not discriminate. It is whether you can fight. ADF should get their objective right in their training. Same with teaching kids in school. Getting so frustrated with things happening in this country and the western world.
Old cowboy
what is a rainbow person
nw
(Edited)
So which flag does our military owe its allegience to then?
Its seems its the globalist rainbow flag….
We need a clean out of what appears to be military command with clearly distorted sense of priority.
From this day forward, I have no faith in our military command.
Derek
Except our Australian flag includes the flag of the British empire.
All our badges and flags would look fine if it was removed. Not replaced with anything else.
Just remove the union jack. [relevance?]
Lizziebear
(Edited)
People should be ‘seeing purple’ over this kind of ridiculous PC overkill. Wear the uniform with pride. .
Omah Goodness
(Edited)
What a farce. Are you sure that this isn’t being announced about 5 months too late? In any case if you mix all the rainbow colours together you’d probably get a kind of brown anyway. Stick with the uniform and be proud (oops wrong word) of being always identified as a protector of our Australia.
hoc est quod cogito
In fact, in practical terms, making it a ‘do it, or else’ instruction won’t do anything for anybody. ordering a person to do something that a person does not want to do, particularly if it is not relevant to the role that person is engaged in, is unlikely to encourage inclusiveness. Just virtue signalling “look at us, we support diversity. Now you lot, get back to learning to fight a war.”
Derek
“if you convince a man against his will, he is of the same opinion still”.
Darrin
What a disgrace! I was proud to wear the uniform of The Australian Army for my career. My family has a long history serving our great nation especially in Vietnam to keep out the communists. What a sad day it is, that to wear your uniform is a protest. Our Generals should put more time in protecting our Veterans than this garbage. Duty First!
Dennis
It might be a long way off, but I can see a civil uprising taking place in this country.
Dennis
Lizziebear
(Edited)
Dennis it may well come to that, unfortunately. And then where will we be? What a lot of damage acquiescent PC overlords can do to a nation. Shame on those who seek to divide us….. All the more reason to Vote NO
defenderofthefaith
The communists have infiltrated every aspect of western civilisation. From the Holy Roman Catholic Church to our primary schools. My rosary is getting worked over time these days.
nw
(Edited)
So defence of the alphabet agenda is more important it appears, than the defence of the country.
Got it.
FAIL. ADFA. FAIL.
Hey people….Lest We Forget…remember that?
I hope many cadets refused the “guidance”.
Craig
Is there no corner of our world not infested with the woke agenda. I’m gay but I think this is absurd and nothing short of fascism! Tow our line or else ♂️
Jac
Yes Craig. And I’m heterosexual – but in real life neither one of us actually cares what the other is doing in their bedroom. The problems we are experiencing are purely based on a small percentage of one group’s insistence that everybody be wildly aware of their sexual preferences! Personally I’d rather hear about what they had for dinner.
At ease
Many people DO care, and DO object.
Interested Aussie
This is surely a bad joke,,the ADF. I always thought was supposed to train war fighters, not be bothered with this irrelevant rubbish,,what an embarrassment the adf has become.
buglife
ADFA is a military leadership academy. Show your leadership ability, wear your uniform as a ‘protest’ anyway. Commit to your moral and ethical principals and your soldiers will respect and follow you for that. If you have disciplinary action taken against you for standing up for what you believe in then so be it. You won’t be the first. As for the Defence bureaucrats, just another in a long line of politically influenced public relations decisions. The ADF’s job is not pleasing the public, it has other more important tasks.
PW
Be proud Australian Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women by wearing your uniforms provided by your country.
aaron
Our military uniforms are all made in China. Every single garment, every boot, sock.
PW
I know, has been for at least over a decade now.
Derek
So are our cars, clothing and kitchen appliances.
Hawkeye
Crazy stuff, I’m sure wearing purple for a day will help on the battle field.
Dex
We have turned into America, Russia and China must be laughing there head off at the western world of woke .
Lizziebear
(Edited)
WWW – the Western World of Woke. Very good…. Let’s challenge the WWW by Voting NO
Phoenix
ADF personnel are employed to defend our Country. Anyone who wishes to be sidetracked from this objective on this matter should seek alternative employment as a Social worker.
Trez
O I feel so much SAFER now I know my defence Force (or is it a service)are a bunch of indoctrinated woke fools. So now we are turning our army into a bunch of care bear snowflakes. The commo countries must be quaking in their boots. What a bloody sick joke & laughing stock we now are. So much stupidity in everything now
Mr.
I, like most reasonable people, have no concerns with how free, consenting adults legally conduct their lives or affairs.
But don’t expect me to ‘celebrate’ positions that I don’t personally see any appeal or benefit in.
You do your thing, I’ll do mine and let’s all not proselytise.
Lizziebear
(Edited)
Imagine the uproar if they were all forced to go to church, or follow one particular religion. One wonders if they actually HAVE been ordered to vote a particular way? Let’s help them along …. Vote NO!
Petalsharo#2
ADF Now the laughing stock of the whole world, there’s no diversity & equality in war, when is this nonsense going to stop, its damaging our whole country.
Politenessman
“Defence personnel voluntarily participate in a range of diversity and inclusion events throughout the year at a group, service or local community level,”
Or they will be charged.
S H G
These woke agendas causes the nation to go backwards and not forward and leads people to confusion and not truth through their imagination, Wicked!
Trez
Yep the great dumbing down of a nation of insipids.
Rob
You get this woke rubbish hand in hand and every time we get an ALP Government. A base CO wouldn’t do this unless they had approval from much higher up to “woke it up.”
JD
We are a weird mob in Australia
Lil2
What is happening to our once democratic country when once we could think for ourselves. Now it is very much like a dictatorship and division between is very real but whats that saying “divide and conquer”?
Roger
Next ADF will be ordering soldiers to vote Yes!! Vote No
Selcallmeonly
Unbelievable …. Almost!
Shane
just another example of the woke adjenda being forced on the ADF if this keeps up we will not be able to fight our way out of a rusty bucket. Shame on CDF . Respect for all is not achieved by forcing political views on all.
Evens
I am with Hastie and Thompson on this.
Therese
(Edited)
Invest in the ADF [?]
Jo1
disgusting
PB
wear your uniforms with pride. forget what the woke generals say.
PK
Absolutely disgraceful order. Wouldn’t follow that officer into war.
PatrickJ
China is going to run through Australia like wet cardboard.
At ease
Just imagine what the WW2 prisoners in Changi or the Thai Burma railway forced labourers would have thought of the performance by the ADF heirarchy.
Charles
Just the latest example of the Marxist left infiltrating every aspect of Australian life.
Dennis
The only thing missing from this country is a formal declaration that we are following a path to communism. Dennis
aaron
Glad I’m no longer serving. The more the top brass bends over for the left, the more they want. They will never be appeased
PW
Me too Aaron.
Craig
(Edited)
Phil is totally correct. The Defence are so focused on this new age woke nonsense that our collective war fighting skills have diminished badly.
Peoples feelings or various woke beliefs won’t help you when the shots are ringing out!
Dennis2
The rot has set in well and truly.
A l e x
Defence minister behind this very important directive no doubt. [Richard Marles]
John
Too many commanders
General
Leadership is so out of tune with the prevailing sentiment. At my work place, it has in the past been strongly encouraged to wear purple on those days, very few did. The staff come to work and not get involved agendas.
[faggot] AndyM
That’s because the majority of the population don’t want to. It’s a small militant minority that have self esteem issues that do.
Steve2
What a load of rubbish.
tom
This is not the army I knew. Well now lets see just what the Army leaders are made of. Will they show leadership and hold those responsible or stay silent and wimp out.
[faggot] Brian
This is the most perfect example of how the far right are just as bad a bunch of snowflakes than the far left.
I would love to hear from these cadets that had such a moral objection to wearing civvies on one day.
Given the totality of the evidence of the ADF culture in recent history, this is probably a good way of weeding out those that would drag us back to the bad old days
Nic
Huh, that makes zero sense. The Marxist left have no love for this country, they want to make everyone ashamed of it. Who wants to defend a country they are ashamed of? That’s what they are teaching in schools
The ADF have one job, defending this nation. No wonder no one wants to join
[faggot] Brian
It does make sense if you a grounded in reality. The only thing more damaging for a country than the “Marxist left” is the ultranationalist right.
But the suggestion they are teaching Marxist ideology in schools is both a misunderstanding of Marxism and what is being taught in schools.
I suspect you will find that none of this is connected to whether people want to enlist in the ADF
Hawkeye
Brian, ADF – Australian Defence Force, not a place to entertain far left or far right propaganda. This is where people learn to defend a nation, placing life on the line for their country. Let them just focus on that and keep all the BS back ground noise away.
[faggot] Brian
Lucky this isn’t even the semblance of far left or far right propaganda. This was merely a day for the cadets to dress in civvies. I am at a fundamental loss as to how anyone can equate “wear it purple day” with fringe ideology. Plus given the ADF’s history with minority groups, gestures like this are more than reasonable
Greg
The ADF can order you to salute, they can order you to fight, they can order you to kill, they can order you to invade, but they cannot tell you to comply with the absolute drivel of woke garbage. The head of the defence force should be drawn over the coals for this ridiculous display of NON-MILITARY activities and priorities. Whilst supporting LGBT people to have the same opportunities and respect as others are given, there is zero need for these nauseating displays of virtue signalling, which do nothing to improve the lives of the people they purport to support. Each person has their own right to like whom they choose, and as long as they do no harm they have the absolute right to choose who to publicly support too. Corporate, Government and Military mandates to “show support” are political correctness at its worst. Reminder to ADF heads… We are a free country with freedom of expression and association. Perhaps the ADF should remember this when they try and enforce a communist style order to comply without question to a matter unrelated to military service. The entire ADF command should be reviewed for focussing on rubbish like this instead of proper and appropriate Military matters.
Roger
Well said Greg, I agree totally, you nailed it.
Old cowboy
a bit like the smoking welcome crap that we are all sick of
Sard
What an absolute disgrace…
Daniel
A great way to stop people wanting to ever fight for the country.
[faggot] Brian
If wearing civilian clothing for one day is enough to stop someone wanting to serve, they probably aren’t suitable to serve in the first place
AndyM
Yes Brian, that’s what this is, wearing civilian clothing for one day, it’s not symbolic at all. The left always trying to hide their agenda.
[crying faggot] Brian
The agenda is showing support for a community that has been marginalised, and not insignificantly within the ADF. I would love a conservative to explain how this is seditious.
AndyM
China smiling with glee…
S H G
Imagine the outcome of these woke people or freedom of speech if Communists took hold of the Country.
Lizziebear
(Edited)
We are seeing it already; Division Disharmony Infighting Proposed ‘info’ laws Misdirected spending Cronyism Lack of transparency Over-celebration of ‘diversity’ Cancel culture, at whim Dictatorial policy Kowtowing to foreign interests Vote NO to Labor Vote NO to Voice for all our sakes
Danielle
Typical of ADF hierarchy nowadays.
References and Further Reading:
‘Wear It Purple‘, via LaTrobe University, https://www.wearitpurple.org/
