Defence Legislation Amendment (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 2) Bill 2026
Senator BLYTH (South Australia) (12:33): I rise to speak in relation to the Defence Legislation Amendment (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 2) Bill 2026. This directly implements 15 of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Australia owes a lasting debt of gratitude to the servicemen and women of the Australian Defence Force, whose service, courage and sacrifice has helped protect our nation and preserve the values that we hold dear.
We owe it to them to ensure that the issues identified by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide are neither ignored nor forgotten but are met with genuine reform and sustained commitment. The royal commission was established by the coalition in response to longstanding calls from veterans, families and the broader community for a comprehensive examination of the systemic factors contributing to suicide among serving and former defence personnel.
In establishing the royal commission, the coalition made clear that its purpose was to identify the changes necessary to reduce the tragic incidence of suicide within the defence and veteran community and to drive meaningful and lasting reform. The findings of the royal commission place a clear responsibility on all of us to strengthen the support systems available to serving members and veterans and their families and to ensure those systems meet the challenges they face.
It validated the experiences and concerns that veterans, their families and the ex-service community have been raising for many years. As parliamentarians, we have an obligation to our defence force and to our veteran community to ensure the issues identified by the royal commission are acknowledged and the necessary action is taken. And this is what the coalition has been doing.
Last year, the coalition supported the legislation to establish the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission, which was recommendation 122 of the royal commission. In doing so, we listened to serious concerns raised by veterans advocates about Labor's last-minute legislation for the commission. The coalition strongly supports reforms that enhance the health, wellbeing and safety of current and former Australian Defence Force members as well as the families who support them throughout and beyond their service.
The findings of the royal commission place a clear responsibility on all of us to strengthen the support systems available to serving members and veterans and their families and to ensure those systems meet the challenges they face. This bill proposes a range of changes intended to place greater emphasis on the welfare of defence personnel and veterans across both the Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
These measures seek to improve coordination between agencies, strengthen access to support services and ensure that the wellbeing of defence members and veterans and their families remains central to service delivery. Schedule 1 of this bill establishes a new legislative framework to support the health, wellbeing and safety of serving Australian Defence Force personnel and veterans and their families.
It responds to the finding of the royal commission that critical information held across defence and veterans systems is often fragmented, resulting in information silos, delays in support and missed opportunities to identify and assist individuals at risk. New information-sharing arrangements in the bill are designed to facilitate access to services and assistance and should result in better and faster delivery for ADF personnel and veterans and their families.
Importantly, the bill contains a clear legislative basis for the collection, use and disclosure of information for the purposes of research, data analysis and evaluation relating to the health, wellbeing and safety of serving and former defence personnel and their families. The stated objective of these provisions is to enable Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs to better understand emerging issues, assess the effectiveness of programs and services and develop evidence based policies that improve outcomes for all those who have served.
The coalition recognises the value of reducing administrative barriers between agencies and improving the way government services are delivered to those who have served our nation. However, the collection and sharing of personal information must always be approached with caution. Defence personnel and veterans and their families rightly expect that sensitive information relating to their service, their health and their personal circumstances will be handled with the highest degree of care and security.
For that reason, it is essential that any expansion of information-sharing powers is accompanied by robust safeguards, clear limitations on use and strong accountability mechanisms. The bill seeks to address these concerns by requiring compliance with ministerial guidelines, providing for information to be de-identified wherever practicable and ensuring that the framework operates consistently with existing obligations under privacy legislation.
These safeguards are important, and we will require ongoing scrutiny to ensure that they are both effective and proportionate. The coalition will continue to closely examine whether the proposed protections are sufficient to safeguard the privacy of defence members and veterans and their families while enabling the legitimate research and evaluation activities necessary to improve services and support.
The royal commission also found that the existing legislative framework had not kept pace with contemporary clinical practices and does not adequately support modern approaches to health governance, data management and mental health care. Schedule 2 seeks to modernise the legislative framework governing defence health services and respond to several recommendations made by the royal commission.
Given the unique health challenges faced by many defence personnel, the coalition supports efforts to ensure the defence health system operates to the highest possible standards and delivers timely, effective and appropriate care. However, while there is a legitimate need for Defence to access relevant health information to support readiness and safety, safeguards must remain robust and clear to ensure personal health information is used only when necessary and appropriate.
As with other elements of this legislation, the effectiveness of these reforms will ultimately be measured by whether they result in improved health outcomes for those who rely upon them. The royal commission identified that family circumstances, relationship breakdown and family and domestic violence can have a profound effect on the wellbeing of defence members and veterans.
Schedule 3 seeks to strengthen legislative support for defence families by recognising the critical role families play in the wellbeing, resilience and long-term health outcomes of serving and former ADF personnel. In doing so, it attempts to give effect to recommendations of the royal commission relating to family and domestic violence, family support and suicide prevention.
The coalition recognises the important contribution defence families make to Australia's national security. Behind every serving member is often a family that shares the burdens of service life, including frequent relocations, prolonged absences, operational deployments and pressures associated with military service. The coalition acknowledges the seriousness of family and domestic violence and supports measures to improve safety for victim-survivors and strengthen pathways to assistance.
Families must have confidence that sensitive personal information will be handled appropriately and with strong privacy protections and clear limitations on how information can be used. Ultimately, again, the effectiveness of these reforms will depend on whether they translate into meaningful improvements in support of defence families, better identification of individuals at risk and stronger responses to family and domestic violence.
Schedule 4 establishes a more structured statutory framework governing service eligibility and end-of-service arrangements. The schedule also seeks to strengthen provisions relating to fitness for service and termination of service in circumstances involving serious criminal offending. In particular, it proposes that individuals who are imprisoned for serious violent offences or sexual offences will be automatically separated from the Australian Defence Force and will be ineligible to return to service.
The coalition supports the principle that individuals convicted and imprisoned for the most serious violent and sexual offences should not continue to serve in the Australian Defence Force. Such conduct is fundamentally incompatible with the standards expected of those entrusted with the defence of our nation and the leadership responsibilities associated with military service.
At the same time, it is important that any framework governing entry to, continuation of and separation from service is accompanied by appropriate procedural safeguards, clear decision-making criteria and effective review mechanisms. Schedule 5 contains a series of amendments intended to support the effective operation and independence of the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission.
These measures are designed to strengthen the commission's ability to perform its oversight and review functions consistent with recommendations made by the royal commission. The coalition recognises the importance of an independent body capable of scrutinising defence and veterans' services, identifying systemic issues and ensuring governments remain accountable for delivering meaningful reform.
Effective oversight will be essential if the lessons of the royal commission are to be translated into lasting improvements for defence personnel, veterans and their families. This bill represents a significant legislative response to the findings of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. It seeks to improve information sharing across defence and veterans' systems, strengthen support for defence families, modernise governance arrangements with the defence health system, enhance wellbeing and transition supports, and clarify service eligibility and separation arrangements.
Veterans and their families should experience faster claims processing and more seamless access to services, and earlier intervention can be identified for those at risk. The true measure of the success of this legislation will be not the breadth of the provisions but whether it delivers the practical improvements in the lives of serving personnel, veterans and their families.