Presented to the House of Representatives under section 20 of
the Public Audit Act 2001, March 2023

n 2016, the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)
launched Operation Respect after a series of reviews
found that inappropriate and harmful sexual
behaviour was a problem in the organisation.
Operation Respect is intended to eliminate harmful
behaviour in NZDF and create a safe, respectful,
and inclusive environment for its people. Initially,
Operation Respect focused only on sexual harm,
but in 2017 the scope was expanded to include all
inappropriate and harmful behaviours.
The Ministry of Defence commissioned an
independent review of Operation Respect, which
was completed in 2020. The review found that while
progress had been made in better preventing and
responding to inappropriate and harmful behaviour,
Operation Respect had lost momentum and needed
renewed focus. The review also found that there was
a “code of silence” where many personnel felt unable
to raise concerns about harmful behaviour because
of a fear of repercussions and because they did not
trust NZDF’s systems and processes

Over the next 20 years, the Office of the Auditor-
General will assess how well NZDF is progressing
towards achieving Operation Respect’s aims. We will
do this by carrying out regular performance audits
and monitoring of NZDF’s actions to implement
Operation Respect. (From the summary).

Ms part of OAG's work, the OAG has developed an
outcomes measurement framework that will
enable us to assess NZDF’s progress against
five outcomes. The OAG intends to report against this
framework about every two years. The first of
these monitoring reports, A safe and respectful
New Zealand Defence Force: First monitoring
report, is also available, published in March 2023. (#8246). Record #8245