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CANBERRA - The Australian Defence Force has denied reports it paid for breast enlargements so that female sailors could look sexy and said taxpayers footed the bill only if the surgery was needed for psychological reasons.
The Navy paid A$10,000 ($11,600) each for the sailors, aged 25 and 32, to have cosmetic breast enlargements, News Ltd newspapers reported.
Plastic surgeon Kourosh Tavakoli, who performed the operations, said the sailors claimed the breast enlargements were necessary for mental health reasons.
"I've had two female Navy officers who've got the Navy to pay for breast augmentation for psychological reasons," he said. "There's no breast augmentation that I know of for medical purposes."
Australian Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said operations purely for aesthetics were against policy but were allowedin some cases for psychological reasons.
"The suggestion that taxpayers are funding breast operations for defence personnel to look sexy is not only wrong but insulting to the dedicated people who serve in our defence force," Nikolic said.
Opposition defence spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said Labor would this week ask the Government in Parliament for details about the cases.
-AAP
