Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025, an important and timely reform that will strengthen transparency, accountability and oversight across our defence establishment. This bill amends the Defence Act 1903 to establish a new parliamentary joint committee on defence, the PJCD, modelled on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, the PJCIS. Like the PJCIS, this committee will allow parliamentarians to examine classified matters in a secure setting, ensuring that oversight of the defence policy, expenditure and decision-making is robust, informed and responsible.

The creation of this committee is not just a bureaucratic reform; it is an essential step in modernising Australia's parliamentary oversight of our defence institutions at a time when our strategic environment is becoming more and more complex, uncertain and contested than at any other point since the Second World War. The purpose of this bill is straightforward but significant: to create a formal mechanism through which parliament can oversee and scrutinise Defence decisions—including strategy, planning, capability, development, expenditure and personnel matters—in a secure and structured environment. Why do we need it? Because Australia faces increasingly complex and evolving strategic challenges.

Our Defence Force operates in a rapidly changing region. What we're responding to are the realities of new technologies, shifting alliances, new forms of warfare, cyber information and space. With this complexity comes the need for stronger democratic oversight. The Australian people rightly expect that decisions involving the expenditure of billions of taxpayer dollars and the potential deployment of Australian men and women in uniform are subject to appropriate parliamentary scrutiny. Until now, there has been a gap in our oversight framework. While the PJCIS provides classified oversight for our intelligence agencies, there has been no equivalent mechanism for Defence.

This bill fills that gap. It delivers on a key recommendation of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade's inquiry into international armed conflict decision-making, a recommendation that received broad support from experts and the public alike. The new Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence will have broad and meaningful functions. It will oversee the Australian Defence Force, the Department of Defence, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and key Defence portfolio agencies. Its remit will include oversight of administration and expenditure, capability development, strategic planning, personnel issues and major defence operations, whether warlike or non-warlike.

The committee will also review Defence's response to the royal commissions, such as those relating to veterans' suicides or misconduct, ensuring accountability across the system for the men and women who serve our nation. Importantly, it will examine the performance of key statutory offices, including the Inspector-General of the ADF and the newly established Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator—a critical role as Australia embarks on the AUKUS pathway to nuclear powered submarines.

Let me be clear. This committee will not duplicate the work of the PJCIS. They will continue to oversee our intelligence agencies, including those that fall under the Defence portfolio, such as the Australian Signals Directorate. The PJCD will focus on Defence, broader responsibilities, capabilities, policies and the welfare of our people in uniform. The bill gives the committee the power it needs to do its job properly. It will have the authority to request and consider information and documents relating to its functions and to require witnesses to appear or produce documents. For the first time, a parliamentary defence committee will be empowered to receive and consider classified information, subject of course to stringent safeguards. We recognise that defence often deals with highly sensitive information—operational, technical and strategic information. We understand that. This bill also includes robust provisions to protect that information. It introduces strict criminal offences for unauthorised disclosure of protected material, modelled on the Intelligence Services Act of 2001. These offences apply to committee members, their staff and any other person engaged in the committee's work. Information may only be provided to the committee with ministerial authorisation, and the minister retains the power to issue binding certificates to prevent the disclosure of information that could engage national security or defence operations. These are sensible and balanced safeguards, protecting our nation's interests while enabling meaningful parliamentary oversight.

The composition of the committee will ensure both representation and flexibility. Like the PJCIS, the Prime Minister, in consultation with the Leader of the Opposition, will appoint 13 members—seven from the government and six from non-government parties—drawn from both houses of parliament. This structure preserves a balance of parliamentary representation while allowing for flexibility, including the option to appoint crossbench members, should the government choose to do so. That flexibility is deliberate. The government recognises that national security should be above partisanship. There will be times when crossbench voices bring valuable perspectives and experience, and this model allows for that possibility.

As I mentioned earlier, the bill includes strong provisions to safeguard sensitive information. Operationally sensitive material will be protected, and any unauthorised disclosure, whether intentional or reckless, will attract serious criminal penalties. This reflects the approach taken to our existing intelligence oversight framework. Members of the committee will undergo appropriate security vetting and training. The aim is to ensure that our parliamentary oversight processes do not compromise—I repeat: do not compromise—national security while still allowing elected representatives to perform their vital scrutiny function. This is about trust—trust in our institutions, trust in our parliament and trust in the integrity of our democracy. There's been no more important time for that than right now.

Colleagues, we recall that this bill was previously brought before the Senate in July 2024. Unfortunately, it was negated due to disagreement over committee membership. The coalition—well, they were the coalition at that time; now they're divorced and so maybe I shouldn't be using 'coalition'—or the Liberal Party and the Nationals opposed the bill unless membership was limited strictly to government and opposition members. The Greens sought guaranteed crossbench representation. The government did not agree to either proposal. We were disappointed to see the bill defeated. Of course we were. We know how important this committee and the work that they will be doing will be for those who serve this great country in the Defence Force and wear the uniform. Also, at the end of the day, when they put that uniform on, they are protecting every Australian. It was particularly disappointing given that the former shadow defence minister had repeatedly expressed support for the establishment of this very committee, even calling for it to be expedited. Instead of working constructively, the opposition of the day—that was the Liberal Party and the National Party, who aren't in a coalition now—chose, as they normally do, to play politics and political games instead of supporting the establishment last year of this important committee. So, therefore, it has been delayed. That reform, which would have strengthened accountability and transparency across the Defence portfolio, was delayed because of their political games. But this government is not deterred. We have reintroduced this bill with the same flexible and balanced membership model, one that allows for adaptability to the needs of the parliament while maintaining robust oversight. This is not about politics. It's about good governance—I know it was a foreign term for those opposite when they were previously in government.

We strongly believe that this is important legislation that should never be used in a political way to play political games, so we're here again today putting this bill before the Senate. It is largely unchanged from the 2024 version. We believe that this is a bill that should be supported. I'm very proud to support this bill. I'd remind people that changes to the bill include the removal of provisions following the passage of the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Act 2024. The functions of the PJCD now explicitly include oversight of the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator. Additionally, the bill updates the definition of the Department of Veterans' Affairs to align with the new Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025. These are practical and technical changes that ensure consistency across our legislative framework. This bill is about strengthening the health of our democracy. It is about ensuring that the Defence Force, one of our nation's most powerful and respected institutions, remains accountable to the parliament and, through it, to the Australian people.

We ask a great deal of the men and women of the ADF. As someone whose family has proudly served in every branch, whether it was the Air Force, the Navy or the Army, and as someone who comes from Tasmania, where we punch well above our weight in enlisting to protect our country, I can say that this bill is of critical importance to my state and to our country. Most importantly, at this point in time, we have to demonstrate that we will do what's necessary to protect our democracy. We are there to support the men and women in uniform. We trust them with our security, we trust them with our sovereignty and we trust them with our lives. That's what we do when men and women put on the uniform. They lay down their lives to protect us, just as men and women before them have done. In turn, they and the Australian people deserve a system that ensures defence decisions are transparent, well governed and subject to proper oversight.

Establishing this committee brings defence into line with the rigorous oversight already in place for our intelligence agencies, as I've said before. This is a practical and sensible reform that ensures our parliamentary structures keep pace with the complexity of our strategic environment. The oversight is fitting for these times that we now live in. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence strengthens accountability, modernises our oversight framework and ensures that decisions about defence, our people, our strategy and our resources are made in an open and transparent way and under the watchful eye of this parliament. This is reform that strengthens our democracy, respects our armed forces and reflects the Labor Party's longstanding belief that transparency and accountability are the hallmarks of a good government. We demonstrate every day that we are here to provide an open, transparent and good government, because we are focused on the things that matter to Australians. There's nothing more important than the defence of our country, our people and our democracy. I commend the bill to the Senate.