Canberra, Tuesday 03 December 2019 – The 2019 OBOE Endeavour Academic Excellence Award Recipients were introduced to the inner workings of the Australian Defence Force(ADF) with several organisational briefs held at the Russel Offices Complex, which is home to the Australian Department of Defence and the administrative headquarters of the ADF. The awardees were briefed on some of the policy drivers for Australian Defence including the White Paper 2016, and the Gender, Peace and Security agenda under Australia’s First National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2012-2018 where they discussed the different roles women and men play in conflicts, and improving women’s representation on operations in the ADF.
The RBAF awardees also had calls to the ADF senior leadership Commodore Katherine Richards, Chief Of Staff of the Royal Australian Navy’s Strategic Command and Air Commodore Phil Champion, Acting Deputy Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force.
The awardees also had the opportunity to visit the Canberra War memorial for the ‘Last Post’ Ceremony where they had the honour to lay down wreaths in memory of Trooper Allan Gordon McMartin who succumbed to his wounds in the First World War under the Australian Imperial Force.
This year’s OBOE Endeavour Academic Excellence Award recipients represent the second batch of RBAF officers contributing to the strengthening of defence ties with the ADF through continued engagement.
