Yes, the Left in Australia have tended to attack the Navy recently - the most recent ‘scandal’ (now generally acknowledged to be false, although some Left wingers are still beating the drum) was that sailors had deliberately burned ‘asylum seekers’.
But, unfortunately, I don’t find it hard to believe there was at least some cases of abuse in the junior recruit programs, and if they were, it damned well should come out, and those who did it, should be punished to the full extent of the law. I hope it was isolated, if it did happen, but I can believe it did.
Australia is currently holding a ‘Royal Commission’ (a major inquiry lead by a Judge and a panel of other people) into Institutional Child Abuse - looking at groups that ran children’s homes, boarding schools, etc, in the past, so it may also simply be partly that people are coming forward now, because of the publicity in the hope they will be taken seriously. If they were abused, they deserve to see that dealt with, properly.
So it may be a combination of both valid concerns, and politically lead ones.
I agree. You and I agree that it's wrong for adults to use vulnerable children - young teens and older - as objects for sexual use. It should be condemmed when it has happened, and every effort should be made to avoid further incidence.
However, you have to look (as a separate point) at the Left and its agenda. They condemn the Catholic Church because some homosexual priests abused teenage boys (and a handful of genuine pedophiles assaulted prepubescent girls), but they condemn the Catholic Church because it teaches that homosexual behavior and fornication are wrong.
They attack the Boy Scouts because some homosexual men abused teenage boys, and yet they insist that the organization accept practicing homosexual boys and men.
If the Royal Australian Navy is a current target, it's not because the press gives a flying freep about homosexually abused boys, past or present. It's because the institution has a stance or has done something the Left doesn't like.