Defence Legislation Amendment (Discipline Reform) Bill 2021
A recent review of the ADF’s discipline system found that the current summary discipline system is overly complex, difficult to use, unresponsive and characterised by excessive delay because of its complexity.
A Bill to reform the ADF’s military discipline system was introduced into Parliament on 12 August 2021. The Bill aims to make the discipline system easier to use when dealing with minor discipline matters.
The Bill allows for a wider range of minor breaches of military discipline to be managed quickly and simply as disciplinary infringements; it introduces several new service offences relevant to the modern ADF; and it provides a better structured discipline hierarchy based on the seriousness of offending, available punishments, rank of the individual and the seniority of the discipline authority.
The Minister’s Second Reading speech can be found here.
This Fact Sheet provides insight into what Defence is trying to achieve with the Bill can be found here.