Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am pleased to present the Defence Force Discipline (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 1) Bill.

This bill represents one of the most significant reforms to Australia's military discipline framework in decades, delivering on key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

The Albanese government accepted the overwhelming majority of the royal commission's 122 recommendations: agreeing or agreeing in principle to 104 recommendations.

We've been working at pace to implement these—by the end of 2025, 32 recommendations, over a quarter, were implemented.

The royal commission dedicated a whole volume to sexual violence, unacceptable behaviour and military justice.

The legislation before us today takes a significant step towards implementing recommendations in that space.

The bill also responds directly to concerns about fairness, transparency, mental health treatment, timeliness and complexity within the Defence Force Discipline Act (the DFDA).

The reforms contained in the bill are comprehensive and, collectively, modernise the system so that it protects people, strengthens discipline, and aligns with contemporary Australian community expectations.

This bill represents one of many reform packages aimed at implementing measures that respond to the royal commission's recommendations.

In particular, the bill directly implements recommendations 18, 20, 23 and 63, and gives effect to recommendation 34—these relate to strengthening workplace protections during sexual misconduct investigations, the sentencing and recording of convictions for perpetrators of military sexual violence and court-martial governance.

The royal commission also noted that involvement in the military justice system, whether as a victim or an accused, can itself be a risk factor for suicide.

It highlighted the pressing need for improved workplace protections, modern sentencing practices, reporting and recording of serious offences in a manner consistent with civilian jurisdictions, and for a modern approach to the management of mental impairment in disciplinary proceedings.

This bill does all of this.

The bill contains six schedules.

Schedule 1 has five parts that directly implement royal commission recommendations 18, 20, 23 and 63.

Schedule 1 provides a power to suspend a Defence Force member where a Defence member is under investigation for a civil or overseas offence. Currently, a member under Defence Force Discipline Act investigation may be suspended, but a member under civilian investigation for potentially more serious conduct may continue to work until charged.

This bill fixes that gap by allowing suspension once any formal investigation commences; the suspension ceases when the investigation ends unless a charge is laid, preserving procedural fairness. This implements royal commission recommendation 18 to enhance safeguards to ensure that victims are not required to work with perpetrators while investigations are underway.

Schedule 1 also strengthens sentencing procedures by recognising that rank disparity is an aggravating feature of offending, regardless of whether the victim is of higher or lower rank. This change reinforces the requirement for service tribunals to consider the impact on victims where the service offence involves conduct that constitutes a serious violent or sexual offence, and a service impact statement must be sought to allow the service tribunal to consider the effect on discipline, cohesion and command. These reforms implement royal commission recommendation 20 and give effect to aspects of recommendation 34 by bringing sentencing practices closer to contemporary civilian standards.

Schedule 1 also improves transparency by requiring that superior tribunal convictions be disclosed to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, ensuring that serious service offences that are analogous to civilian criminal offences are recorded on criminal records. A limited non-disclosure order mechanism protects individuals in exceptional cases where disclosure would be unjust or harmful. This supports the broader implementation of royal commission recommendation 23 by ensuring that relevant sexual and violence related service convictions are captured in national police records in a manner consistent with civilian jurisdictions.

Schedule 1 also removes stigmatising language from the Defence Force Discipline Act, replacing the outdated and pejorative term 'malingering' with a neutral description that better reflects modern understanding of injury and illness, consistent with royal commission recommendation 63.

Finally, schedule 1 seeks to clearly distinguish between violent and non-violent forms of ill-treatment within certain service offences to further support royal commission recommendation 23(b).

Schedule 2 of the bill seeks to modernise and streamline superior tribunal procedures to align with contemporary civilian criminal practice while retaining the flexibility and efficiency required for military operations.

It gives effect to the royal commission's recommendation 34, which required the priority review of provisions related to court martial panels not being required to give reasons for punishments imposed by introducing the requirement for any conviction and sentencing decision by superior tribunals or reviews to be accompanied by reasons.

The legally complex task of sentencing would become the responsibility of a judge advocate rather than a lay panel, aligning superior tribunal practices with civilian criminal justice practices. Changes to streamline the procedures of the superior tribunal system, integrated with the other measures in this bill, support the adoption of modern best practices related to sentencing. A power to adopt such matters through regulation allows the system to keep pace with justice reforms in civilian jurisdictions. These measures aim to increase fairness by ensuring that complex, sensitive or serious matters proceed in the most appropriate forum, with the most appropriate procedures and practices applying.

Schedule 3 is one of the most transformative parts of the bill. It contains two parts that overhaul how the Defence Force Discipline Act deals with accused persons suffering from mental impairment.

Part 1 introduces new powers permitting a tribunal to adjourn proceedings where continuing would be detrimental to the accused or contrary to the interests of discipline. It also allows, in limited circumstances, the dismissal of a charge where the accused suffers from a mental impairment and prosecution would not meaningfully serve the maintenance of discipline. These changes reform the rigid and outdated 'unsoundness of mind' framework and acknowledge the urgent concerns identified by the royal commission regarding trauma and mental health in the Defence context.

Part 2 establishes a Defence mental health tribunal framework. When a person is unfit to plead or is acquitted because of mental impairment, the tribunal may order treatment, care or detention, as appropriate. Orders must be reviewed at least every six months and cannot exceed three years (or ten years for serious violent or sexual offences). They only take effect once confirmed by a reviewing authority, ensuring strong oversight. This modernises military practice in line with civilian mental health jurisprudence and provides a clinically informed alternative to the outdated custodial provisions currently in the Defence Force Discipline Act.

Schedule 4 replaces the existing mid-tier discipline system with a new system of summary contraventions, to allow for more streamlined and efficient military discipline outcomes. Summary contraventions deal with contested minor misconduct, and misconduct too serious for an infringement notice but not warranting prosecution as a service offence. They are administrative, not criminal, and use the civil standard of proof. A central pillar of this framework is to allow Defence to manage misconduct in a proportionate, efficient way while reducing unnecessary escalation into the service offence system. The effect of streamlining this mid-tier discipline system will be to reduce the time that individuals spend exposed to the military justice system, thereby reducing potential mental harm and enhancing the disciplinary effect of the system.

Schedule 5 contains sixteen parts, each delivering a discrete fairness, efficiency or modernisation measure that seeks to strengthen the Defence Force Discipline Act framework.

Broadly, these include modernising drug offence thresholds to align with other Commonwealth legislation, clarifying delegation powers, updating rules of evidence, harmonising judicial officer termination grounds, improving review processes, modernising the powers of investigating officers, enabling removal orders for intimate images, enabling evidence to be provided via video, victim impact statements and providing for the extinguishment of historical homosexual service conviction records that would not be offences today. Each measure enhances system coherence and brings the Defence Force Discipline Act in line with contemporary Australian law and practice.

The extinguishment of historical homosexual service convictions is an important measure and a step in writing a historical wrong. This is a long time coming. Nearly 34 years ago, in November 1992, Prime Minister Paul Keating declared homosexual men and women would no longer be banned from serving in the Australian Defence Force. These changes will allow Defence personnel who are convicted of offences purely on the basis of consensual homosexual activity to apply to have this conviction extinguished.

The effect of this extinguishment will also be to prevent disclosure of that conviction or information related to it by other people. Family of Defence members, including of deceased veterans, can also apply under this scheme on behalf of their loved ones. These changes are a restorative legal change to help lessen the detriment associated and stigma imposed by former homophobic attitudes and practices reflected in such convictions.

We have always been proud of those who serve our nation. With these changes to enable expungement of convictions, now no longer regarded as a crime, those that had to previously hide can have their pride in service accurately reflected in their service record as well.

Schedule 5 also allows the Minister for Defence to issue guidelines to the Director of Military Prosecutions. This approach aligns with section 8 of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983, which provides a similar power for the Attorney-General to issue directions and guidelines to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

The bill also implements a number of other reform recommendations, including introducing stronger protections over disclosure of sensitive materials during disciplinary investigations. This implements a 2016 Defence Abuse Response Taskforce report recommendation, as well as adopting 19 of the 28 recommendations for reform to the discipline system made in the JAG's 2024 annual report; and measures introduced address recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission's report 148 related to reforming justice response to sexual violence, to allow for providing video evidence-in-chief for sexual offence prosecutions.

Ultimately, the reforms in this bill strengthen trust in the military justice system, reduce harm, improve transparency, modernise mental-health responses and ensure that the Defence Force Discipline Act reflects the standards expected in today's Australia.

This bill represents a careful, comprehensive and essential response to the findings of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

It supports the wellbeing of defence personnel, strengthens the integrity of the discipline system and upholds community expectations of fairness and accountability.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.