Senator Fraser Anning is like the Steven Bradbury of politics.
He’s the guy who replaced the guy who was sitting in the Senate because of Pauline’s Hanson name.
And I say that with all due to respect to Malcolm Roberts who was a fine performer in the parliament.
But Senator Anning is there because everyone else fell over. And last night he showed why it is a good thing for our parliament have an ordinary nobody in there asking questions.
It was Senate Estimates. And the topic was Defence.
On one side was the Chief of Army, Angus Campbell. He was confident, cocky and condescending.
On the other side was Senator Fraser Anning, the grazier from Queensland. He was coughing and clearing his throat. No doubt, he is more comfortable at home with his cows than in a committee in Canberra.
And surrounding them was the sycophantic crowd praising the naked emperor’s clothing.
It takes courage to walk into that room and ask the questions that no one wants to hear. But Fraser Anning did just that.
He looked at the Chief of Army and asked if Defence had ever commissioned a study to determine whether placing females in combat roles would increase Defence capability.
The answer: no.
Boom!
And then, when the Chief of Army claimed that there were no quotas for women, Anning asked why the Chief of Army had previously informed the Senate that the recruiting targets for females had not been met.
The answer: there are no ‘quotas’ and instead the Army simply won’t recruit males unless no female is found within six weeks of the job opening up.
Boom! Boom!
See for yourself.
Here is Senator Fraser Anning getting the Chief of Army to admit that he has no research to back his claim that front line females increase capability:
And here he is again, calling out the Chief of Army over his assertion that there are no quotas:
These answers given to Senate Estimates last night should shock the nation. And they come just days after the Army also informed Senate Estimates that just 24 of the 154 females recruited for an infantry role have passed their basic training courses:
Question 6
Please provide a breakdown of Reserve/Full Time females who were recruited into the Army for a role as a Rifleman:
a. How many commenced via the Army Pre-Conditioning Program?
b. How many completed the Army Pre-Conditioning Program?
c. How many commenced the Recruit Training Course at Kapooka?
d. How many completed the Recruit Training Course at Kapooka?
e. How many commenced Infantry Initial Employment Training?
f. How many completed Infantry Initial Employment Training?
Answer
The Army Pre-Conditioning Program is designed to assist women to meet the general entry-level fitness standards and build resilience to successfully complete the Army Recruit Course.
The Army Recruit Course is designed to prepare and train recruits to be soldiers in the Australian Army and commence their respective Initial Employment Training. Initial Employment Training is designed to train soldiers in their Employment Category or trade.
a. Ten
b. Eight
c. Army Pre-Conditioning Program: Eight. Australian Regular Army: 95. Army Reserve: 49.
d. Army Pre-Conditioning Program: Five. Australian Regular Army: 39. Army Reserve: 28.
e. Army Pre-Conditioning Program: Five. Australian Regular Army: 39. Army Reserve: 28.
f. Army Pre-Conditioning Program: Nil. Australian Regular Army: Ten. Army Reserve: 14
For the last six years, the Army has embarked on a costly and politically-correct crusade to bring females into the infantry.
It has been done on an assumption and without any research. And to make it happen, blokes have been told to go away.
It takes, on average, almost eight months for a male to join the Army. And the Chief of Army has just let them know that they won’t get a look in if a female applies before them and punches out eight push ups at a recruiting centre.
If they can’t manage that, women can still take a position via the Army Pre-Conditioning Program, which will give them 49 days of paid training to help them reach that target. It’s almost one week of training per push up.
True, if no woman can be found, men will be contacted six weeks prior to the position opening up and offered a job. But after waiting for months, for many this will be pointless. They’ll have already found a job doing something else.
The Chief of Army claims that this system is helping Defence secure the best talent possible. The reality is that it is turning talent away.
Our military is weaker for it.
Last night the clichés rolled. Angus Campbell told the Senate that half the nation’s talent was in its female population. Following that logic and the Army might as well recruit everyone and grab all the talent on offer.
No one denies that females are talented.
But the infantry requires specific talents: strength, endurance and fitness. And Defence’s own statistics show that when it comes to these talents, females can’t compete.
Of the 154 women recruited for infantry since 2016, just 24 have passed basic infantry training. Already 25% of those have been medically downgraded.
And every single female recruited for an infantry role via the Army’s vaunted Pre-Conditioning Program has failed to qualify as an infantry soldier.
When asked if the Army concedes that this program has been a failure for the infantry, the Chief of Army said no.
Seriously?
In terms of success, this program has been an utter disaster. It is a barren wasteland with a 100% failure rate. Yet the Chief of Army claims it is working. He sounds like this guy (and you wouldn’t want him running our military):
Taxpayers are wearing the burden of this costly program.
Millions have been spent on advertising to make it happen. Millions more have been spent on squandered training days.
And the unit which is receiving these women is now in the process of sacking almost as many male soldiers due to comments they have made about women on Facebook.
In the big picture, every single dollar spent has been wasted with absolutely zero increase to capability, while those who could increase it have been turned away.
That’s bad enough. On the financial figures alone, the program should be scrapped.
Making it worse is the fact that standards have been dropped. And that means capability has actually been diminished.
Comments from recruit instructors or those at the School of Infantry make it clear that assessments are no longer as rigorous as they once were, just to enable females to pass. Consequently, the quality of male soldiers will also decrease.
And worst of all is that this entire program has been based on a politically-correct assumption. No research has been done at all.
There is no data to back the Chief of Army’s claim that female infantry soldiers increase capability, unit cohesion or the ability to win on the battlefield.
And the Chief of Army has no idea whether those women who do get through will not suffer an increased risk of long-term health consequences over their male counterparts.
If any other organisation embarked on such a program without any due diligence it would be rightly described as negligence.
Unfortunately, the Army is not any other organisation. It is not a business that this nation can afford to fail because it embarks on some politically-correct flight of fancy.
Yet it is being eroded before our very eyes, while the crowd bays for the emperor to walk back down the cat walk.
You can watch the entirety of Senator Anning’s questions to the Chief of Army below:
February 28, 2019
How many women could carry n M60 and ammo for 2 or 3 hours marching and fighting. Not in my platoon thank you.
June 4, 2018
But in Victoria they’re pushing through laws making it illegal to refer to children as boys and girls. So in a generation you’ll have plenty of zers/zirs/tirs or whatever to enter the army on a non-gender specific basis. It won’t be all men if you don’t call them men.
June 3, 2018
I see the Chief of Army has mastered the nuances of Political Correctness. To wit:
The ADF recruiting target for females is not a quota.
Except when it is. It only becomes a quota when the target has not been met.
June 2, 2018
I liken it to elite sports. You will never have a female team playing against the men in the AFL, or never have male and female sprinters in the 100m final together at the Olympics.
The physiology is different, and it pains me to see all the effort going into forcing this square peg into a round hole, and no-one can explain the reason for it. I mean, who has gone to the Army and said – we want to see more women in the army! Not the public that’s for sure.
There’s a measurable outcome here, and it’s been measured and found wanting, at a cost. The army isn’t the place for a social experiment.
June 1, 2018
The USMC (Marines) have already done a study regarding women in combat roles. Unit effectiveness drops dramatically. Those behind this social experiment won’t be the ones who will suffer, however blood will be on their hands and the should be held to account. This deliberate weakening of our Military is treasonous.
June 1, 2018
And now those women who have flunked out the the Pre-Conditioning Program due to ‘injury’ can claim veteran status because they ‘served’ for a day. I know of one trying to claim for her alleged mental anguish.
June 1, 2018
I want to hear from Ben Roberts Smith. If a Corporal can run a TV Station, why not run the Army. Lets put the DOERS in charge and sort out this mess that has infiltrated society.
May 31, 2018
Thanks to Senator Fraser Anning for asking the right questions! He’s a good bloke, as the following quotes show, from his speech on “same-sex marriage”, 29th November 2017:–
With marriage, as with defence, the elites are trying to force everyone to conform to their “agender” agenda. Senator Anning ably highlights this in both cases.
May 31, 2018
My question is this. Has anyone done a cost comparison on how much to recruit train and field a female infantry soldier versus a male. Also is the pre-conditioning program open to male applicants as well. After all the message the ADF is giving here is that it is inclusive and not gender bias.
I am all for the best applicant for the job ethos regardless of gender but as an ex infantry soldier I know first hand the extremes that job places on you physically and mentally. It is a job where you look to the guy next to and know he is capable of carrying out all tasks given. I have seen the strongest, toughest guys in physically pain and pushed to the limit with endurance tasks put before them. Their is also the close nature of working in small groups and the lack of adequate facilities when in the field. Not the most inviting profession for women.
June 1, 2018
What happens when a female has her period? I know females that struggle to function on an ordinary day with menstrual pain, so how are they expected to perform in battle? Curl up in a corner cuddling a hot water bottle whilst the battle rages around them…
“Are you hit, you’re bleeding?”,
“No it’s just that time of month”.
May 31, 2018
Its been 13 months since I first applied for the infantry.. all this stuff is starting to make me regret applying in the first place.
May 31, 2018
I have said this many times before so I will write it down this time an that is a dead male soldier does not make for good politics but a dead female soldier is an annihilation. Females are not taker’s of life, they are giver of life. Here endith the lesson you friggen moron Care Bear Campbell Traitor to all Male Soldiers.
May 31, 2018
” Females are not takers of life ”
Tell that to the aborted unborn and the 56% of murdered children who are murdered by their mothers.
June 1, 2018
Not talking about abortion mate but totally agree with your sentiment….
May 31, 2018
Are the women in infantry allowed to play Rugby on the Battalions A Rugby team? If not, why do we discriminate? Because if they aren’t able to play Rugby for physical reasons, then why do the PC brigade believe they can compete against men in combat? Have we completely lost our minds?
May 31, 2018
General Campbell lied in respect of the topic on Targets for women. He lied again when he said the Infantry was the hardest Corp – The SAS & CDO take that mantle.
This guy misleads again when he’s says that recruiting females is the way of “drawing the best talent” into the infantry….why is this a lie ? Because he has no data to back up his assertion & the existing data indicates that female infantry recruitment is a dismal failure.
Campbell should have been taken to task much harder & a demand for his resignation & that of the minister.
May 31, 2018
Hi Angry Viking – SAS and the CDO units are not corps. There are rigorous selection measures but most of those serving in these units are infantry.
May 31, 2018
I stand corrected ! I’m an ex-RAFFie so excuse my ignorance on things Army.
Much of Campbell’s assertions were utterly ridiculous for example; the squad walking into the village scenario..
All the locals see is a bunch of armed & dangerous invaders their village, once you’re carrying a weapon the Gender of whoever carries that weapon becomes irrelevant.
Better to communicate in the manner which is culturally appropriate to the country your in. Having Female infantry soldiers say, amongst Afghan communities sends the wrong message. As it would in many other 3rd world countries. This is typical Socialist Feminist 1st world insanity.
May 31, 2018
SAS and CDO are part of the Infantry Corps. So he did not technically lie.
May 30, 2018
The ‘elite’ have forgotten who Australia is.
PC Tyranny is dictating ideology,
They can only push us so far, as Henry Lawson predicts:
“Australia’s a big country
An’ Freedom’s humping bluey,
An’ Freedom’s on the wallaby
Oh! don’t you hear ‘er cooey?
She’s just begun to boomerang,
She’ll knock the tyrants silly,
She’s goin’ to light another fire
And boil another billy.
“Our fathers toiled for bitter bread
While loafers thrived beside ’em,
But food to eat and clothes to wear,
Their native land denied ’em.
An’ so they left their native land
In spite of their devotion,
An’ so they came, or if they stole,
Were sent across the ocean.
“Then Freedom couldn’t stand the glare
O’ Royalty’s regalia,
She left the loafers where they were,
An’ came out to Australia.
But now across the mighty main
The chains have come ter bind her –
She little thought to see again
The wrongs she left behind her.
“Our parents toil’d to make a home
Hard grubbin ’twas an’ clearin’
‘’They wasn’t crowded much with lords
When they was pioneering.
But now that we have made the land
A garden full of promise,
Old Greed must crook ‘is dirty hand
And come ter take it from us.
So we must fly a rebel flag,
As others did before us,
And we must sing a rebel song
And join in rebel chorus.
We’ll make the tyrants feel the sting
O’ those that they would throttle;
They needn’t say the fault is ours
If blood should stain the wattle!”
May 30, 2018
Same issues are occurring in the Navy. My son deals with the compromised standards everyday to satisfy the PC brigade. It is putting all service personnel at risk when people are kept in roles who are unable to fulfill the core requirements just to satisfy the female quota. Males are being passed over for advancement and development opportunities again to satisfy quotas. We are losing all experience and talent from the services for this very reason.
May 30, 2018
Deplorable. Totally deplorable.
It is the same in all state & territory Police forces.
In Western Australia Police even in the 90’s, they did not have enough females who could pass selection.
The obstacle course for example was well, an obstacle. What did “management” do?
Lower all the fences, walls etc & give females a “female only” time limit to complete the course and other tests!
Apparently the “goal” is to have at least a 50/50 ratio of male/female officers. Yet no one seems to acknowledge the fact that most of the violent drug and alcohol affected offenders police deal with daily are – male.
As in the military especially infantry, what percentage of the opposition will be female infantry? Can you prove beyond reasonable doubt that female Australian infantry will be as good as, or better, than male infantry?
It is not sexist, it is not misogynist.
It is reality, something sorely missing for decades in Australian so called leadership.
Folks, it’s all over. Our once vaunted military, our police, all institutions – infested from the top down with politically correct rank climbing appeasers, who will do and say anything to please their social engineering political masters. Get out while you can, it is only going to get much worse.
May 31, 2018
Charles, Exactly the same thing has been happening in the Banks for the last 35/40 years. This has resulted in the current Royal Commission but no one has the knowledge of what integrity really is. I have grave fears for Australia’s future.
May 30, 2018
I think the Army I joined in 1979 and left in 2000 is now being run by beancounters and academics, not soldiers
May 31, 2018
No no no…beancounters and academics can be useful as they have skills, for example the academics could carry out a research study into the effects of having females in Infantry roles; and the bean counters could come up with a cost-benefit analysis. No… this downward spiral to defence mediocrity is being led (from the rear) by the PC social justice warriors the majority of whom wouldn’t volunteer for an Infantry role – or any other constructive role
May 31, 2018
I agree with you Paul Martin. I joined in 74′ and left in 96′, but I will add another thing, I think the army is being run and controlled by ratbags. From the very top, all the way down to CO”s.
May 30, 2018
They turned away my son because he had a tattoo on his neck. His grandfather paid to have it removed which took a year. In which time he went off the rails and is now in prison.I would say if the Army had accepted him while he was getting the Tattoo removed he would still be with them & not in Risdon. I am disappointed in the ADF for sending him away.
May 30, 2018
Are you serious??? Idiot
May 30, 2018
I sincerely hope everything works out for your son Nathan
May 30, 2018
Holy crap, I got out of the army as an infantry soldier and a WO2 in 2005. To me looking from the outside in this has diminished the entire capability of the infantry corps and the RAR. I saw Ben McLennan on the photos from the Coral 50th and I would hate to be him. I served with him on deployment and he has a shot job. Let the PC shut go, do a study, due dillignece and a risk assessment and maybe they will see the light on where the risk exists for AUSTRALIA
May 30, 2018
All care bear wants is his fourth star. If it wasn’t him, Chief blue orchid Thinskin would happily take over.
May 30, 2018
And people carry on about the Generals of WW1. The current lot are bewildering to anybody with half a brain.
May 30, 2018
any civilians and soldiers following the employment and promotion’s of females within Defence know its just a political push due to the equity and sexual bias that we all now face in society. this is not new the same thing happend in the late eighties early nineties which was the first of the political pushes that I know of, back then it never happend due to the public outcry that know one wants to see there daughters dead on a battlefield and nor should they. They did however push enough in parliment to have more females join other areas of Defence, by doing this the men that joined could be more easily pushed into battlefield roles. Females in infantry could work however I believe for western types of society’s they would need to be Female only section and platoons, One main reason is Males are taught from birth to protect females so on a battlefield if a female is injured most men not all will naturally stop and assist the female stalling any order to charge a battlefield. I know this for a fact as a soldier of 25yrs this subject comes up for most soldiers at one time or another. then maybe im old fashioned
May 30, 2018
We are Now Paying the Price for Gillard’s Destructive Policies thrown at Australia under the Direction of the UN. Australia lost it’s way under Rudd and then Hillard. Trumbull is doing nothing to reverse Australia’s Trojan Horse Destruction
May 31, 2018
What an educated and considered comment Adam. I had never thought of that.
May 30, 2018
Are these P.C D**kheads for real, next we will have Muslim quotas and turn a blind eye to their shortcomings
May 30, 2018
They are already running a program to recruit muslims.
June 1, 2018
I think you will find that after women there is a strong push to get as many indigenous people into that 49 paid days fitness program before males as well….
June 1, 2018
It’s already happening. There’s a course for that as well but it actually goes for 12 weeks.