Dateline - May 31, 2006
Enhancements to the Military Justice System

Considerable progress has been made in implementing the Government's response to the 2005 Senate Report into 'The Effectiveness of Australia's Military Justice System' and ongoing action from previous reviews of the system. Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said Defence has provided a progress report, the first of four six-monthly progress reports to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. This report highlighted significant enhancements to both the
discipline and administrative aspects of the Australian Military Justice System.

"I am pleased to report that in the first six months of the two year implementation period significant achievements have been made in reforming our system to deliver impartial, rigorous and fair outcomes through enhanced oversight, greater transparency and improved timeliness", Air Chief Marshal Houston said. "It is critical to the operational effectiveness of the ADF and the protection of individuals and their rights that we have a strong military justice system. One that not only underpins our discipline and command structures but also enables our personnel to work in a fair and just environment."

Ten significant milestones have been achieved:

1. The backlog of Redresses of Grievance cases has been cleared and the Defence Fairness and Resolution Branch has been established as the central management body, outside of normal line-management, for managing all
complaints and grievances. This was central to streamlining the management process, in order to improve the timeliness and rigour in dealing with complaints and Redress of Grievance.

2. Initial phases of the tri-Service audit of ADF Service police investigative capability have been completed. This audit is expected to establish the best means for developing our investigative capability.

3. Colonel Tim Grutzner has been appointed the Provost Marshal-Australian Defence Force. He will head the new tri-Service investigation unit that will be formed following the investigative capability audit.

4. Effective immediately, dedicated Service police investigators will be deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. This further assures the ADF military justice system delivers impartial, rigorous and fair outcomes both at home and on deployed operations.

5. The impartiality of the Service Tribunal System has been enhanced with the establishment of the Chief Judge Advocate, Director of Military Prosecutions and Registrar of Military Justice as statutory positions and the establishment of the new position of Director of Defence Counsel Services.

6. The position of Inspector General ADF has been established as a statutory position to provide independent oversight of the Military Justice System.

7. A review has been completed into the Defence Whistleblower Scheme and the operation of this scheme will be reported in the Defence Annual Report.

8. The Defence Inquiry Regulations have been amended to incorporate new provisions with respect to representation of affected persons at Boards of Inquiry. These amendments ensure that all persons who appear before an Inquiry receive fair and impartial treatment.

9. The initial phase of the audit of ADF schools and training establishments has also been completed. This completed inquiry will establish a baseline from which to drive change in our training culture.

10. The administration of the ADF Cadets has been enhanced through the engagement of an expert to examine whether the human rights of children are being respected and the provision of additional resources to the ADF Cadets to improve administrative support.