The federal government will establish an independent inquiry into sexual violence in the Australian military and ensure serving personnel convicted of sex offences in either criminal or military courts face mandatory discharge.
But soldiers wounded on operations will continue to receive greater compensation than those with the same injuries inflicted in training, under the formal response to the defence and veterans’ suicide royal commission.
The chief commissioner, Nick Kaldas, welcomed the government’s response on Monday, just three months after the commission published its final report.
“I hope to look on as the positive outcomes are achieved from all the recommendations for veterans and serving members who have waited a long time for this,” Kaldas told Guardian Australia.
The government has agreed that sex offences – including stalking and abusively distributing intimate images – should result in an automatic discharge, subject to appeal. It has also committed to adding “emotional intelligence” to the key criteria considered for leadership selection and promotion.
As part of an overhaul of the way Australia’s military and bureaucracy trains and treats serving and former defence personnel, the government will establish a new statutory body by September to oversee reform aimed at preventing suicide within the defence and veterans’ community.
The new defence and veterans’ services commission will also provide evidence-based advice, with an interim head to be appointed “as soon as possible”. A special taskforce within the prime minister’s department will lead the implementation of the royal commission’s recommendations.
“I do want to say that we have the deepest respect for every Australian who wears our nation’s uniform and serves selflessly to keep us safe,” Anthony Albanese told a news conference on Monday. “Now we will work tirelessly to improve the system and keep them safe too.”
The opposition said the government’s response was another step towards systemic change.
“While appointing an interim head is a start, the Albanese government must work at best speed to commence public consultation and any legislation required to ensure this new body is implemented expeditiously,” opposition frontbenchers on defence and veterans’ affairs Andrew Hastie, Barnaby Joyce and Phil Thompson said in a joint statement.
Endorsing the addition of an “emotional intelligence” consideration for leadership, the defence minister, Richard Marles, rejected the suggestion that military service involved acting without emotion.
“Those who are commanding need to have more emotional intelligence, rather than less,” Marles said. “It is a really important part of how we understand command and how we understand the kinds of abilities and attributes that our commanders need.”
Albanese acknowledged that the royal commission ended up with a greater focus on sexual misconduct than it had anticipated at the outset, because of the extent of evidence presented to it.
“Clearly, we need to do better,” the prime minister said. He praised those veterans and their families whose persistence led to the royal commission and whose evidence led to its findings, also singling out independent senator Jacqui Lambie for her advocacy.
Personnel found to have engaged in sexual and related offences including harassment, unwanted touching and “prejudicial” or obscene conduct – whether through Defence’s disciplinary or administrative processes – will need to demonstrate why they too should not be discharged.
Those facing mandatory discharge would be able to challenge the ruling in a formal process triggered by the conviction.
“Sexual misconduct and unacceptable behaviour have no place in Defence,” the government’s published response to the royal commission said.
“The rates of sexual violence being reported in the ADF are completely unacceptable.”
The government has vowed to work to change the defence culture to more actively encourage reporting of unacceptable behaviour.
There were few details available immediately as to how the foreshadowed independent inquiry into sexual misconduct in the Australian defence force would operate or the power it would have. Some in government are suggesting the new statutory body may be tasked with undertaking it.
The royal commission found that between 1985 and 2021, there had been 2,007 confirmed suicide deaths of former or serving ADF personnel – an average of at least three every fortnight. Of the royal commission’s 122 recommendations, the government has accepted 104 fully or in-principle. It gave only in-principle and not yet outright support to establishing a brain injury program to examine blast impact, saying the new taskforce would consider this.
It has rejected the commission’s recommendation to change the compensation system that now compensates injuries sustained on warlike operations at a higher rate than those sustained in training.
The royal commission recommended standardising the compensation rate based on the severity of injury, not the circumstances. But there was significant pushback in the veterans’ community and the government has opted to leave the current system in place to acknowledge the extra commitment reflected in serving on operations. This part of a recommendation is the only proposal that has been rejected outright.
It is also not proceeding with aligning the Department of Veterans’ Affairs fee schedule with that of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, arguing more work needs to be done across government to ensure consistency on what is covered, as well as how much is paid.
In relation to sexual misconduct, agreed measures include ensuring the Australian defence force has a complete and reliable record of all serving personnel convicted in civilian courts of serious crimes and recording military convictions for sex-related offences in civilian criminal records.
The government will expressly require military tribunals to consider the impact on the victim of a sexual offence when sentencing an offender. Where an offender outranks a victim, this will be considered an aggravating factor potentially attracting a higher sentence.
Sentencing will involve victim impact statements, with their authors able to choose to read them aloud in open or closed court. It will also publish annual anonymised data on the outcomes of all incidents of sexual misconduct.
All changes relating to being forced out of the ADF for sexual and related offences will require legislation.
Among the 17 recommendations it has only “noted”, without promising action, is the proposal that future inspectors general of the ADF should be civilians who have never served in the ADF. However, it will publish guidance to increase the inspector general’s transparency and accountability.
The government has also instructed the inspector general to immediately establish an inquiry into commanders’ abuse and weaponisation of the military justice system and has agreed to establish a new military justice system assurance branch from next month, to better oversee the system’s operation.
Veteran and advocate lawyer Glenn Kolomeitz – now a NSW Senate candidate for the Jacqui Lambie Network – welcomed the government’s response but warned that the ADF’s administrative processes need fixing before linking the presumption of discharge to administrative findings.
“The devil’s in the detail of course,” Kolomeitz told Guardian Australia of the government’s measures. “I want to make sure the government doesn’t allow a return to business as usual by Defence.”
There will be changes to new-recruit training to address stress factors sooner and for career managers to respond to trauma.
The government has agreed to review its respite policies to help members returning from deployment to decompress and reintegrate and to do more to help defence families manage domestic postings.
It has also agreed to:
publish better procedural fairness guidance those deciding on job classifications;
more thoroughly consider the impact of mental health before recommending administrative termination;
trial a model outside the chain of command for supporting members involved in the military justice system; and
directly address the risk factors for suicide and report on progress.
• Support for veterans and their families is available 24 hours a day from Open Arms on 1800 011 046 and Safe Zone Support on 1800 142 072. Hayat Line is a free and confidential crisis support line for Muslims on 1300 993 398.
