Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee (part 2 of 2)

21 September 2026

Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee Australian Parliament

00:03 - 00:09
Speaker 2
Thank you, Chair.  Okay, so, Air Vice-Marshal, nice to see you again. 
00:09 - 00:12
Speaker 1
Nice to see you as well, Senator. 
00:12 - 00:28
Speaker 5
I was just wondering, what is it in the bill and the roles it describes that causes Defence to form the view that the victim-survivors could be forced to report through individuals they actually believe might be implicated? 
00:28 - 01:51
Speaker 7
Okay, sorry, just bear with me a second.  Sure.  So we have noted that section 110 Zulu Mike Romeo, which talks about the SAPA response and support functions, is proposing to consolidate those training, reporting, response, support, evidence collection, data collection, record keeping and investigation within a single entity.  And we do feel that that could blur necessary boundaries between trauma-informed care, command responsibilities, health service delivery and investigative or evidentiary process, and could inadvertently compromise victim choice, reduce confidentiality and affect trust in the system, particularly where victim-survivors need assurance that their support services are not linked to investigative or disciplinary outcomes in that regard.  We also note that there are existing bodies and independent entities that already exist in that regard. 

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