The Royal Australian Navy is under pressure to explain why it has spent tens of thousands of pounds paying for female sailors to have breast enlargements. The opposition Labour Party will this week grill the government over revelations that the operations were granted to women whose small breasts had caused them crises of self-confidence. "On the face of it, taxpayer-funded breast enhancement is a questionable practice," said Labour's defence spokesman, Joel Fitzgibbon. "I have to say it smacks of a government [that is] out of touch. The navy defended the practice, saying the procedure was only allowed for psychological rather than cosmetic reasons.
"Under defence policy, we do consider the broader needs of our people, both physical and psychological," said Brigadier Andrew Nikolic, a defence department spokesman. "But that is a long way from saying that if someone doesn't like their appearance, defence will fund things like breast augmentation as a matter of routine - that is just not correct."
The navy has not disclosed how many women have undergone the taxpayer-funded operation. But a Sydney plastic surgeon revealed that in the last two years he had carried out breast enlargements on two sailors, aged 25 and 32, at a cost of £4,200 each. Other women had gone to a plastic surgeon retained by the navy, he said.
"I don't know why [the navy] pay for it,” said surgeon Kourosh Tavakoli. "There's no breast augmentation, that I know of, for medical purposes."
Neil James, the head of military lobby group the Defence Association, defended the policy, saying female sailors were only given breast enhancements if there were compelling "psychiatric or psychological reasons". "Just as there are in civilian life, there are some females who feel their breasts are too small and if their breasts were bigger, they might be more of a 'normal' woman," Mr James said. "If they were lacking in self-confidence, this might provide the measure of self-confidence that would help them tackle their wider job."
