Now lawDefence & Security Introduced in the House of Representatives, 25 Jun 2026

Violent and sex offenders now barred from Defence

This law follows the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. It lets Defence and Veterans' Affairs share more details about members and families. It puts Defence health care into law and helps partners leave violent relationships.

Official name: Defence Legislation Amendment (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 2) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• People applying to join the Defence Force: They are turned down if they were jailed for a serious violent or sexual crime, or are judged not fit and proper, meaning not honest or suitable enough.
• Serving members: Their service ends at once if an Australian court sends them to prison.
• Partners leaving a violent Defence member: They can get short-term help to leave safely for up to 12 months.
• Members, veterans and their families: More of their personal and health details can be shared between government agencies for their wellbeing and for research.
• Defence doctors and health workers: They now have clear legal rules on what health details they can share and when.

Royal commission made 122 recommendations

A Royal Commission is a big official look into a serious problem. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide looked at why so many serving and former Defence Force members take their own lives.

It gave its final report on 9 September 2024. It made 122 suggestions for change.

The Minister for Defence Personnel, Matt Keogh, said this law carries out 15 of them directly. He said it supports 20 more. It follows an earlier law on military discipline, known as the No. 1 bill.

The law has 5 parts. The government wrote notes to explain the bill. Later it added more notes to answer questions from two groups of senators. This article draws on the added notes, the bill itself and the Parliamentary Library's guide to it. The Library works for all MPs and takes no side.

Sharing information for safety

The Royal Commission found that rules which lock details away can put lives at risk. They can stop early help, break up care, and keep families in the dark.

The first part of the bill is about Defence, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and other federal agencies. Veterans' Affairs looks after veterans, the people who used to serve in the Defence Force. It lets them collect, use and share details about members, former members and their families. This includes private details such as health records.

It must be for their wellbeing, health or safety. Or it must be for research into those things.

Details shared for research must have names and other clues to who people are taken out, where that makes sense.

The Defence Minister must make research rules. The normal rule is that people must agree. Details can only be used without their OK if the minister decides the benefit to others is bigger than the loss of privacy.

The minister must first get advice from the privacy watchdog (the Australian Information Commissioner).

Ministers can also make written rules on what details go to which agency and why. Parliament can cancel those rules.

One body runs payments and support for hurt veterans. It is called the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission. It gets new jobs. It must now support the wellbeing, health and safety of members, veterans and families, including through early help. It can also share details to build research data about veterans.

Defence health care in law

The second part of the bill sets out the Defence health system in law for the first time. The federal government must give full-time members the health care they need to stay fit for duty.

Members must tell the Defence Force's top doctor (the Surgeon General) about health care they get outside Defence. Defence health workers must tell a member's boss about anything that affects whether the member is fit for duty.

Someone else may have hurt a member and have to pay for it. Then Defence can ask the member to pay back the cost of care.

Say a member is hurt in a car crash caused by another driver. That driver has to pay for treatment. Defence could get back what it spent, but no more than that.

Health workers can share a patient's details with family out of kindness if the patient cannot agree. They can also warn close family about a serious threat to their health, such as a risk passed down in genes.

The top doctor can approve projects that track the health of the Defence Force over time. Some health details can go to state or foreign health bodies when an ordinary doctor would have to share them too.

Defence can run reviews to make its health care better. Leaking details from those reviews is a crime with up to 2 years in jail. Those papers are also kept out of freedom of information requests, where the public asks to see government papers.

Health workers who honestly share details as the law allows cannot be sued for damages.

Help for families and partners

The third part of the bill helps people leaving a relationship with a Defence member. The minister can now give payments and help to a former partner hurt by violence at home.

The help must be to leave safely, such as travel or short-term housing. It can last no more than 12 months after the relationship ends. It does not cover ongoing payments or long-term housing.

Say a navy wife leaves a violent husband at a remote base. She could get help to travel home and a place to stay while she settles.

Defence support workers can also talk straight to families about payments and services they can get. Families can say no to ads about these services at any time, in writing or by phone.

Who can join or stay

The Royal Commission asked Defence to sack members found guilty of sex crimes and related crimes. The fourth part of the bill goes further.

Nobody can join the Defence Force if they were found guilty of a serious violent or sexual crime and sentenced to prison. This applies even if the sentence was suspended. That means they never really went to jail.

The head of the Defence Force can also turn down anyone with other crimes on their record that make them a poor fit. The same goes for anyone who might be a security risk, or who is not a 'fit and proper person'.

For people already serving, the rule is tougher. If an Australian court sends a member to prison for any crime, their service ends on the day of the sentence.

They may later be pardoned, which means officially forgiven, or win an appeal that removes the jail time. Then they can ask to be taken back.

The head of the Defence Force can also end the service of a member who is a security risk or not fit and proper. The added notes say this test cannot be fully written down, because it depends on each case.

Members it affects get a Defence lawyer. They can complain to the Defence Force complaints officer or go to court.

Veterans' commissioner changes

The fifth part of the bill tweaks a 2026 law. That law set up a new veterans' watchdog (the Defence and Veterans' Service Commissioner). The watchdog keeps an eye on changes from the Royal Commission.

The watchdog can choose to look into things itself and write a report for the minister. Before, every such report had to be put before Parliament for all to see. Now that only happens if the watchdog asks for it. The watchdog can give the minister a copy just so they know.

The watchdog can also make a witness come back day after day until let go. Not turning up is a crime with up to 2 years in jail.

Start date

Matt Keogh brought the bill to the House of Representatives on 25 June 2026. The House passed it on 2 July 2026.

A group of senators looked at it. The Senate passed it with no changes on 17 September 2026. The Senate is the second house of Parliament, which checks bills.

The Governor-General signed it into law on 28 September 2026. The Governor-General is the King's stand-in in Australia. It became Act No. 94 of 2026.

The rules on joining and leaving the Defence Force, and the watchdog changes, started the next day. The parts on sharing details, health and families start on 1 July 2026 or the day after it became law, whichever is later.

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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