Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026
Senator HANSON (Queensland—Leader of One Nation) (18:52): I rise in support of the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026. I'm also going to flag One Nation's amendment to the legislation. This amendment will correct a grave injustice imposed on veterans and serving members of the Australian Defence Force.
This amendment is about fairness. It's about the proper application of the rule of law. It's about standing up for the men and women who were ordered to fight a war in Afghanistan.
It's about a Labor government which has turned its back on brave Australians. When our soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan, they were asked to fight an enemy who wore no uniform and who hid among civilians. Our people had a clear set of rules to follow when engaging this enemy, which in turn did not consider himself bound by the same rules.
Our soldiers operated in hostile territory where almost anyone they encountered could be an enemy. I know this because I visited Afghanistan to see it for myself. And then our soldiers came home.
Forty-one of them did not return alive. Hundreds more were wounded. Many came back struggling with their experiences and the impact those had on their physical and mental health.
Many of them still struggle today. And then, in 2024, Labor betrayed our veterans. Labor changed the rules under which our soldiers operated in Afghanistan.
Years after our deployment was finished, Labor changed the definition of 'hors de combat' in the Criminal Code. Before this change, the law required a full set of conditions for someone to be considered hors de combat. Labor broke that test apart.
Labor made it easier to prosecute our soldiers, and then Labor made this change retrospective. They went all the way back to 2002, when Australians were serving in combat under a different set of rules. They went back to cases still before the courts.
This was wrong. It was wrong because it was completely unfair. This betrayal sends a chilling message to every serving member of the ADF and every former member: serve your country, risk your life, do the job you were ordered to do, and many years later we'll rewrite laws to make it easier to prosecute you.
Australians will not accept that. They know that our soldiers did not choose these wars. Our soldiers did not write foreign policy.
They did not decide where to deploy. They obeyed their orders. They served Australia.
They did the hard, dangerous work that politicians in this place asked of them. Yet Labor is happy to change the legal rules after the event. This government calls it a technical correction.
That is the usual Canberra excuse. But ordinary Australians know the difference between a typo and a law that makes prosecution easier. If the change has no real effect, why make it retrospective?
Why reach back more than 20 years? Why apply it to proceedings already underway? The government cannot have it both ways.
Labor cannot say the change is meaningless while insisting it must apply to past conduct and current cases. This amendment restores the definition that existed before Labor changed it. It restores the legal framework which applied when Australian personnel served.
It restores the basic principle of justice—that you do not change the rules after the game has been played. No-one is above the law. No-one is asking for immunity.
Where there is credible evidence of wrongdoing, it should be tested properly. But the law must be fair. The process must be fair.
The government must not tilt the scales after the fact against Australians who served in uniform. This is where Labor has failed. This government is quick to talk about supporting veterans.
It is quick to stand at memorials. It is quick to speak about service and sacrifice on Anzac Day. But words are cheap.
Real support means standing by the people you sent into harm's way. Real support means ensuring that they are judged under the law that existed at the time. Real support means refusing to turn veterans into political targets.
Instead, Labor has chosen to make prosecution easier. It has chosen retrospective law-making, and it has chosen to abandon the principle that Australians should have certainty about the laws that govern them. That is not support for veterans.
That is a betrayal of veterans. This amendment draws a line. It says that parliament should not change the rules after the fact to make it easier to prosecute Australian soldiers.
It says that fairness matters. It says that the rule of law matters, and it says that this parliament must not turn its back on the people who put their lives on the line for Australia. I urge senators to support the amendment.