Person of interest identified after recording device found on navy ship HMAS Leeuwin

A member of the Defence Force has been identified as a person of interest after a recording device was discovered aboard the HMAS Leeuwin.

The device was found in the women's bathroom of the navy ship on October 11, while it was docked in Cairns.

Investigation underway

In a statement, Defence said the person was now assisting the Joint Military Police Unit with its enquiries.

"Navy's focus and priority is providing support to those who are impacted by this incident," it said.

Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Matt Buckley labelled the incident a "despicable betrayal of trust".

"To provide assurance to all personnel Fleet Commander is undertaking a 100% audit of all of our bathrooms across the Fleet," Vice Admiral Buckley said in a statement.

"You have my assurance and commitment that we will tackle this act of sexual violence with all of our energy. Any perpetrator will be held to account."

Political reaction

The alleged incident has prompted a cascade of political reaction from Canberra.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the incident was "unacceptable".

"I can't speak to how widespread that is. What I can say is that those instances are utterly unacceptable," he said.

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said Defence should "clean up" its culture, and called for an independent body to be established outside of the ADF to deal with the matter.

"The only way we're going to be able to stop this is by taking it out of Defence's hands and having an independent body that actually deals with this," Ms Lambie said.

Communications minister Anika Wells said it was "horrible".

"I really feel for all of the people on that ship who are learning this and the people that may have been victims of this act," she said.

"I would say [to the victims] you deserve to feel safe in your workplace and the rise of tech facilitated abuse … is horrific."