SYDNEY: The Australian government on Monday made a parliamentary apology to victims of abuse in the military and set up a compensation fund after hundreds of claims of rape and sexual assault.

Defense Minister Stephen Smith also established an independent taskforce to individually assess each allegation uncovered by a report commissioned by the government last year.

The taskforce will be able to refer appropriate matters to police for formal criminal investigation, while offering victims help in accessing counseling, health, and other services.

In his statement, Smith lashed out at senior military figures who occupied positions of trust and who “abused that trust through their behavior, including through the turning of a blind eye.”

“Today’s men and women of the Australian Defense Force or the Department of Defense who have suffered sexual or other abuse, on behalf of the government I say sorry,” Smith said.

A capped compensation fund was set up with the taskforce, headed by former West Australian Supreme Court judge Len Roberts-Smith, to determine who qualifies for payouts of up to Aus$50,000 (US$52,000).

The move follows an independent report sparked by the so-called Skype scandal in 2011, when footage of a young male recruit having sex with a female classmate was streamed online to cadets in another room without her knowledge.

The report detailed 24 allegations of rape that never went to trial, among more than 1,000 claims of sexual or other abuse from the 1950s to the present day, involving both men and women.

As well as the rape claims, it said that “from the 1950s through to the early 1980s, many boys aged 13, 14, 15 and 16 years of age in the defense force suffered abuse including serious sexual and other physical abuse.”