Defence disciplines 15 over Facebook slurs

30 Oct 2012, 5:39 pm   -   Source: AAP

Defence has taken disciplinary action against 15 defence members for posting anti-Islamic comments on a Facebook page.

The Defence Department has taken action against 15 members for posting offensive anti-Islamic comments on a Facebook page in response to violent protests in Sydney last month.

Defence said two people had been charged under the Defence Force Discipline Act and given formal reprimands.

Administrative action had been taken against another 13 who had been formally counselled.

Disciplinary action is continuing against one other member.

Army Chief Lieutenant General David Morrison initiated a defence investigation after the ABC reported that some defence personnel had posted material offensive to Muslims on a Facebook page.

"Targeting of any person on the basis of their gender, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation is repugnant and contrary to Defence's values as well as those held by the wider community," Defence says in a statement on its website.

"The overwhelming majority of Defence personnel are professional and hard-working people who act in accordance with the values and standards of behaviour expected from our people in uniform."

The comments on the Facebook page related to a violent Sydney protest against an anti-Islam film made in the United States.

One post said: "Give me a M4 and send to Sydney and I'll do the dishes."

Another wrote: "Mate, what I would give to drop the legs on a MAG 58, slap on a 500 round belt, adopt a stable firing position in the middle of the street and lay waste to every single one of those cancerous c****."

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