New Defence Committee: Fines or Jail for Obstructing Investigations
Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025
House of Representatives
Senate
Assent
Topics
confidentiality criminal penalties government accountability government oversight national defence national security parliamentary committees public accountability witness protection
Introduced by: The Hon Richard Marles MP (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Peter Khalil ALP
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Today I rise in support of the Albanese Labor government’s Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025, which will establish a parliamentary joint committee on Defence. This bill ensures that departments entrusted with extraordinary powers are subject to extraordinary accountability.”
Angus Taylor LIB
“I rise to speak on the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025 and move the amendment circulated in my name: That all words after ”That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: ”whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that: (1) Australia faces the most challenging strategic environment since World War II, increasing…”
“Today I rise in support of the Albanese Labor government’s Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025, which will establish a parliamentary joint committee on defence. This bill ensures that departments entrusted with extraordinary powers are subject to extraordinary accountability.”
“Growing up, education was always the absolutely highest priority in my household. Education is the great equaliser. Education is the key that opens the door to the world. Education is something that can never be taken away from you once it is given, and education lights the pathway for whatever you choose to do in your future.”
Shayne Neumann ALP
“I’m pleased to speak on the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. At the outset, this amendment to the Defence Act will create a new committee to oversee the Australian Defence Force, the Department of Defence, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and other key defence agencies, and will enhance oversight and accountability for defence operations and strategy.”
Leon Rebello LNP
“I rise to speak on the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. When it comes to defence, oversight is not a procedural matter; it’s a matter of national strength, national trust and national survival. Australia faces the most dangerous strategic environment since the Second World War.”
Andrew Hastie LIB
“We all bring personal experience to this place. I want to start back in April 2013, when a parliamentary delegation visited Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan, where I was deployed at the time. I remember interacting very briefly with the parliamentarians who were sent over there, including the former member for Longman, Wyatt Roy.”
Matt Burnell ALP
“I would like to thank the member for Canning for his closing remarks. I acknowledge his service to our country. I will also give a shout-out to a colleague who is probably watching right now in my office. Corporal Kai Edwards is doing a great job this week.”
Dr RYAN
“A decision as to whether or not we should send Australians to war should never be made lightly nor on the whim of one or two powerful politicians. But Australia remains one of the few OECD countries that does not have parliamentary scrutiny of such decisions.”
Andrew Wallace LNP
“I rise to speak in support of the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. I have long supported this bill. It is a moment of some joy for me to be able to stand up here and talk about this bill. This has been a long time coming.”
Luke Gosling ALP
“I rise to speak in strong support of the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. I do so mindful of the gravity of decisions that we entrust to our defence organisation and to the Australian Defence Force and respectful of the responsibility the parliament bears to provide both oversight and confidence on behalf of the Australian people.”
Julian Hill ALP
“I’ll put on the record that I agree with bits of the previous speaker’s contribution, and I thank him for bits of that contribution. I’m fairly sure that, having listened to the speech, he’s suggesting that he may support the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025, or that the opposition supports the bill this term.”
Kate Chaney IND
“The government’s Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025 is a welcome step towards meaningful parliamentary oversight of our defence. But, unless the committee guarantees crossbench representation, it risks becoming an echo chamber rather than an opportunity for scrutiny and oversight. Defence decisions are among the most consequential decisions we make.”
Susan Templeman ALP
“I’m very pleased to speak on this bill, the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025, which is coming before the parliament. It’s very similar to a bill that we put forward in the last parliament, and I’m pleased that it’s coming to the parliament again. This bill is about establishing the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence, the PJCD.”
Darren Chester NAT
“I do thank the opportunity to rise on the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. In accordance with the previous speaker, I acknowledge this is a very important bill, particularly as Australia faces the most dangerous strategic environment since the Second World War.”
Tania Lawrence ALP
“Security is the priority of government, and defence is at the pointy end of that duty.”
Allegra Spender IND
“I rise in support of the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025, which will establish the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence. I think this is a really important move, and it’s one that I wholeheartedly support. Let’s look at why.”
Sean Bell PHON
“Today I rise to speak in support of the Criminal Code Amendment (State Sponsors of Terrorism) Bill 2025. Terrorism is an ongoing threat to the security, democracy and values of the Australian people, and the coalition will always support sensible legislation that protects our national security.”
Tim Ayres ALP
“I move: That these bills be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted.”
Michaelia Cash LIB
“I rise on behalf of the opposition to speak on the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. It is a fact that, in 2026, Australia faces the most dangerous strategic environment since the Second World War. That is not rhetoric; it is the sober assessment of defence planners, intelligence agencies and, more concerningly, our closest allies.”
Ellie Whiteaker ALP
“I rise to add my strong support to the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. This bill represents an important step forward for this parliament.”
David Shoebridge GRN
“I rise on behalf of the Greens to oppose the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee—’secret boys club’—on Defence) Bill 2025. This is a bill that just goes to show how broken the war parties and the status quo parties are in this parliament.”
Deborah O'Neill ALP
“I rise today to speak to the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. I do so with a deep sense of responsibility and with a conviction that this measure is essential to strengthen parliament’s capacity to scrutinise, to advise and to hold to account the institutions charged with protecting our nation. Like many in this chamber, I wish for peace above all.”