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SYDNEY: Australia on Tuesday opened frontline combat roles to women for the first time in its history under a new policy allowing all military positions to be filled on merit rather than gender.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the changes, approved by cabinet on Monday night, would give women access to the seven per cent of military roles currently restricted to men.
Only three of Australia's military partners allow women on the frontlines -- New Zealand, Canada and Israel, Smith said.
The new policy would be phased in over five years to ensure that female combatants had the necessary training and preparation, he added, describing it as a significant cultural and operational shift.
"All of the roles on the frontline will be determined on the basis of merit, not on the basis of sex, so (it's) a very significant reform," he said.
"This is a significant and major cultural change."
Smith said the roles were mainly frontline infantry and artillery soldiers, naval clearance divers and airfield defence guards, and their opening to women would boost Australia's compliance with sex discrimination conventions.
Defence Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said new guidelines would be developed to reflect the physical and mental requirements women and men would both have to meet to be accepted into elite frontline roles.
"It will mean in the future we may well see women leading, for example, infantry companies," he said.
The changes come as Australia reviews the treatment of women in its military following a number of sex scandals -- the most highly publicised involving the Internet streaming of a female cadet having sex at a top defence academy.
- AFP/ck
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