An independent body could handle Defence sexual assault
Senator Jacqui Lambie wants a new watchdog with its own investigators, support workers and evidence store. It would touch every soldier, sailor, air force member, Defence worker and cadet. Cadets are young people in Defence youth groups.
Official name: Defence Amendment (Sexual Assault Prevention, Intervention and Response Commission) Bill 2025
- A new Sexual Assault Prevention, Intervention and Response Commission would sit outside the Defence chain of command. That is the line of bosses in the military.
- Victims could make a private report and get help without starting an investigation.
- Help would be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, wherever Defence works.
- People found guilty of some sexual crimes could not join the Defence Force or stay in it.
- It is a bill from one senator, not the government. It is still before the Senate, which debated it on 14 October 2026.
Who it affects
- Defence Force members: They would get new ways to report sexual assault. They would have new duties not to commit it, ignore it or punish people for reporting it.
- Victim-survivors: They could choose a private report, a medical exam to collect evidence, medical care, counselling and their own lawyer.
- Commanders and senior leaders: The law itself would list their duties, including training before every new command.
- Defence public servants, contractors and cadets: The new rules would cover them too, in Australia and overseas.
- Military police and prosecutors: Prosecutors are the lawyers who bring cases against accused people. They would need special training to handle sexual assault cases.
Most military assaults go unreported
A Royal Commission is a big, formal public investigation. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide looked hard at life inside the Australian Defence Force. It found that for many members, the biggest danger came from inside the Defence Force itself.
Most sexual assaults are never reported. One expert told the Royal Commission that 80% of people who face sexual misconduct in the military don't report it. Defence itself guessed that 60% of sexual assaults go unreported.
People said they stayed silent because they feared for their jobs. Others thought the attacker would face no real punishment. The Royal Commission also found something else. Members found guilty of sexual crimes against other members stayed in the service.
Senator Jacqui Lambie of the Jacqui Lambie Network, a small party she leads, brought in this bill on 27 November 2025. She wrote notes to explain it. They say Defence has failed for a long time to build a system that works. So the bill writes a lot of detail straight into the law. That is unusual.
A new commission
The bill adds a new Part to the Defence Act 1903, the main law for the Defence Force. It creates the Sexual Assault Prevention, Intervention and Response Commission. A Commissioner would lead it, as the official in charge. There would be at least one Deputy Commissioner and a staff.
The goal is zero sexual assaults in the Defence Force. The notes say some senior leaders have called that goal unrealistic. The bill sets it anyway. It aims to reach it by changing the culture.
The Commissioner would stand apart from Defence. No one could lean on the Commissioner about how the commission does its job. The commission would report to the Defence Minister. Parliament would fund it.
The rules would cover full-time and part-time members. They would cover Defence public servants, contractors and cadets. They would apply overseas as well as at home.
The commission could investigate. It could not decide if someone is guilty. That stays with the courts and military courts.
Two ways to report
This is the biggest change for victims. Anyone 18 or over could pick a restricted report or an unrestricted report.
An unrestricted report starts a full official investigation. The commanding officers of both the victim and the accused would be told within 24 hours. The victim gets medical care, legal help and counselling.
A restricted report is private. The victim gets the same support. But no one investigates, and the victim's name stays hidden. Only trained support staff or approved health workers could take this kind of report.
The base commander would still be told within 24 hours that an assault was reported. They would not be told who was involved. This lets them protect other people on the base.
A victim can turn a restricted report into an unrestricted one later. They cannot go the other way. Say a sailor is assaulted on shore leave, which is time off on land, and needs time to think. She could get a medical exam and counselling now. She could decide about police later.
Who can report depends on their link to Defence. Full-time members can report any assault, anywhere, at any time. Part-time members can report assaults linked to their service. Family members and Defence public servants can report assaults that happened on Defence land. They can also report ones that involved a Defence member.
Leaking details from a restricted report would be banned. People who break this rule could be punished at work or lose their job.
Support around the clock
The Commissioner would have to set up help that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It must be at every place Defence has people. That includes ships and troops sent overseas.
Sexual Assault Response Coordinators would run this help. Trained victim helpers, called victim advocates, would work beside them. Their job is to take reports and explain the choices. They arrange care and pick a case manager, a person who keeps track of the case.
The person accused would also get a case manager. The bill asks staff to avoid causing more harm to anyone while a case is open.
Collecting and keeping evidence
Victims could choose a Sexual Assault Forensic Examination. This is a medical exam that collects evidence from the body. It can only happen if the victim says yes. Only trained doctors or nurses could do it.
The evidence would go to an evidence team in the commission within 48 hours. That team would be kept apart from the investigators so no one can tamper with a case.
Evidence from a restricted report would carry a code number in place of a name. It would be kept for 5 years from the day it was collected. Evidence from an unrestricted report would be kept for 5 years after the investigation ends.
Data, records and reports
The notes say Defence has poor records on sexual violence. The commission would build one database for every case across Defence. Victims could see their own records for as long as they are kept.
Records would be kept for 30 years and then destroyed. Only a few people could get to them.
Each year the Commissioner would report to the Minister. The report would count restricted and unrestricted reports. It would count investigations, guilty findings and sackings. It would also count how many people were pushed out because they offended, or because they were harmed.
Training and certified staff
Every member would get basic training. It covers consent and what counts as a crime. It covers how people who see something can step in, and where to get help.
People with a job in the system would need special training. That list includes investigators, doctors, psychologists, chaplains and lawyers. Chaplains are religious support workers. It also includes case managers and commanders.
Commanding officers would have to do a briefing before every new command. This applies even if they did the last one recently.
Response coordinators and victim advocates would need a certificate. They would be tested again at least every 3 years. They would lose it for things like sexual contact with a victim, working while drunk or leaking a victim's details.
The Commissioner would also have to set up a Sexual Assault Investigation Unit. It must be fully running within 5 years.
Duties from the top down
The bill lists duties for named leaders. These include the Chief of the Defence Force, the head of the military, and the head of the Defence department. They also include the Chief of Joint Operations, who runs military missions, and the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Each service chief would need a plan aimed at zero assaults. They would also need to test whether their training works.
The Director of Military Prosecutions is the top military prosecutor. The Director would build a team to take sexual assault cases to court inside the military justice system. Today these cases often go to normal police and courts. Victims say that takes too long. The Director would also set up ways to swap records of guilty findings with the states.
The Provost Marshal is the head of the military police. The Provost Marshal would train and certify sexual assault investigators until the commission's own unit is ready. The head of Defence health would make sure victims are treated as emergency cases.
The Department of Veterans' Affairs looks after former Defence members. It would keep helping victims after they leave the Defence Force.
Every member would have a personal duty too. They must not commit sexual violence or punish someone for reporting it. They must not knowingly make a false claim or look the other way.
Who can join or leave
The bill sets out sexual assault rules that would stop some people from joining the Defence Force. It also says some offenders must not be kept on.
These rules usually sit in detailed rules that a minister can change without a new vote. The bill puts them in the law itself. So only Parliament could change them.
Who runs the commission
The Governor-General would pick the Commissioner on the Minister's advice. The Governor-General is the King's representative in Australia. The term is up to 5 years. It can be renewed once, so 10 years at most.
Anyone who served in the Defence Force would need to have left at least 25 years before to be Commissioner. The notes say this stops old loyalties getting in the way.
At least one Deputy Commissioner must have served in the Defence Force. The Remuneration Tribunal would set their pay. That is the body that sets pay for top public jobs.
An outside review would look at the commission within 2 years of it starting. Then it would happen at least every 5 years. Each review would be put online. The Commissioner would have to answer every suggestion in it.
Waiting in the Senate
The law would start 3 months after it is signed into law by the Governor-General.
Senator Lambie brought the bill into the Senate on 27 November 2025. The Senate is the second house of Parliament. The debate on its main idea started the same day. Senators debated it again on 14 October 2026. They have not voted on it yet.
To become law it must pass the Senate, then pass the House of Representatives. Bills from senators outside the government often wait a long time. Many never get a vote.
Its journey through Parliament
| 27 Nov 2025 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 27 Nov 2025 | Senate: Second reading moved |
| 14 Oct 2026 | Senate: Second reading debate |