US and New Zealand soldiers in Afghanistan in November 2008. Photo: AFP
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The Chief of Air Force says the New Zealand Defence Force is committed to developing a stronger strategy to address bad conduct, following a survey which found nearly a quarter of young women in the organisation experienced inappropriate sexual behaviour in the past year.
The survey came seven years after the NZDF launched Operation Respect to stamp out bad conduct.
It was conducted by the Office of the Auditor General, and was part of a review of the NZDF's progress on implementing culture change.
Auditor-General John Ryan found although there had been some positive changes, conditions remained in the Defence Force that allowed "harmful behaviour to occur", especially for junior, uniformed women.
He also found the NZDF lacked a clear and well-considered strategy.
Chief of Air Force Air Vice Marshal Andrew Clarke, who is also the chair of the Operation Respect Steering Group, said the poor behaviour did not only happen on the job.
"Our camps and bases are workplaces but they're also where people live and socialise, and well over half of those assault figures are occurring in the social environment."
Clarke said Operation Respect was working to shift the dial on poor behaviours, whether in the social environment or in the workplace.
Former army officer Ellen Nelson said the Auditor-General's review showed progress had been made in the NZDF, but there was clearly still work to be done.
Nelson had interviewed current and ex-serving women about their experiences of inappropriate behaviour.
She said there needed to be an overall cultural change within the NZDF.
"The focus shouldn't be on the receiving end of this behaviour in terms of how you stop it.
"The focus should be on how do we put into the culture the appropriate behaviours for people perpetrating this stuff, and how do we focus more on the people doing this harmful behaviour and create a culture that just doesn't allow this sort of thing."