1st Dec 2021, 6:29 PM – Senate Defence Legislation Amendment (Discipline Reform) Bill 2021 - Third Reading - Pass the bill

The majority voted in favour of a motion to pass the bill. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a third time. Because the bill had already passed in the House of Representatives, it can now become law.

What does the bill do?

According to the bill homepage, the bill was introduced to:

• expand the operation of the disciplinary infringement scheme to provide a means of dealing with minor breaches of military discipline;
• remove the subordinate summary authority and correct a number of anomalies with regard to the respective jurisdiction of discipline officers and summary authorities, and between the different types of summary authority, in relation to the type of breach of military discipline, the rank of defence members with which each can deal, and the powers and punishments available to each level of authority; and
• establish new service offences for failure to perform duty or carry out an activity, cyber-bullying, failure to comply with removal order (in relation to material on social media that constitutes cyber-bullying) and failure to comply with requirement to notify change in circumstances (in relation to the receipt of a benefit or allowance).

Read more about the bill in the parliamentary library's bills digest.