Australia launches inquiry into abuse of naval cadets

SYDNEY: Allegations that 220 child sailors at an Australian navy training base were raped or brutalised in the 1980s are so serious they will be raised in a paper to parliament, a report said today.

An inquiry into abuse in the military has received 2 400 complaints but the head of the investigation said claims of shocking treatment at HMAS Leeuwin naval base in Western Australia in the 1980s warranted a separate report, The Australian newspaper said.

There would also be a separate report on claims that more than 70 young officer cadets at the prestigious Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra suffered sexual or other abuse.

Australia established the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce in 2012 to hear complaints after an investigation detailed hundreds of claims of abuse in the forces.

The head of the taskforce, retired judge Len Roberts-Smith, told The Australian he would wait for the overall investigation to be completed before deciding on whether to recommend a Royal Commission.

“We are getting a lot of people who don’t want to go public,” he told the newspaper. – Sapa-AFP NEW YORK: A mid-air circus apparatus with acrobats suspended from it collapsed during a packed Rhode Island performance yesterday, injuring 20.

The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus team crashed 12m to the floor when the rig tethering them by the hair gave way at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence.

The female acrobats hit the ground just after starting their “hair hang” performance and the ringmaster telling the audience, “Suspended only by the strength of…,” according to a video posted online.

The performers did not scream as they fell but there was a “collective gasp” from onlookers who were unsure at first whether the collapse was part of the act, said spectator Aletha Wood, who recorded the video.

A hospital spokeswoman said 11 people were treated in the emergency room and seven were admitted.

The women fell between 8m and 12m and a performer on the floor was also badly injured, fire officials said.

Wood said the stunned the audience.

“It was a pretty packed house. There was a metal disc hanging from the ceiling… held by a single cable.”

Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Ringling Bros, said because the performers were attached to the equipment, a safety net was not required.

Wood’s video showed the equipment and the performers at the start of the show hidden by a cloth cover, which fell away to reveal the acrobats dressed in sequined costumes and hanging from a circular canopy, apparently held by a cable.

One of the performers was suspended beneath the rest. The structure then suddenly crashed to the floor. Workers and emergency personnel rushed to the acrobats, with a gurney arriving a couple of minutes later after lights were dimmed.

The US labour department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a statement that its inspectors were at the scene to determine if there had been any violations of safety standards. – Reuters