Defence Legislation Amendment (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 2)

“What this bill demonstrates is a commitment to continue that work by the Albanese government. It demonstrates a willingness to translate recommendations into action. It demonstrates an understanding that the health and wellbeing of defence personnel, veterans and their families must remain a national priority. This legislation represents an important step on that journey. Through stronger information sharing, modernised health frameworks, improved family support, enhanced transition arrangements and better governance, it delivers meaningful reforms that will help build a more responsive and effective system. The Albanese Labor government remains committed to implementing the royal commission's recommendations and ensuring that genuine change follows from its work.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 01 July 2026

“The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was a solemn warning. It told us that admiration for service is not enough. Thanks are not enough. Ceremonies are not enough. We honour service by building systems that reduce harm, treat people with dignity and respond before crisis becomes tragedy. This bill is a serious step in that direction. It directly implements 15 recommendations and supports a further 20. It strengthens information sharing for prevention and early intervention. It modernises Defence health services. It supports families, including in circumstances involving family and domestic violence. It improves service entry and exit arrangements. It strengthens governance and accountability. None of this removes the pain already experienced by families who have lost someone. No legislative amendment can do that, but parliament can act on what it has learned. It can ensure that the evidence given in the royal commission leads to durable reform. It can require Defence and DVA to work together more effectively. It can insist that the health, wellbeing and safety of those who serve and those who have served and their families sit at the centre of this system. That is what this bill seeks to do. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 01 July 2026

“A nation that sends people to serve must not leave them to suffer alone. A parliament that hears the evidence must not look away. A government that accepts responsibility must act. The measure of our gratitude is whether our systems are there when the uniform comes off, when the injury is invisible, when the family is frightened and/or when the person who served reaches out for help. This bill will be remembered as part of a pathway whereby Australia will not only honour those who serve but build a future where every veteran, every serving member and every family can be seen, supported and able to look forward with hope. I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 01 July 2026

“Together, these reforms enable Defence and DVA to better support personnel by intervening earlier; sharing and using data more effectively; and further equipping departments to protect the health, wellbeing and safety of those who serve, those who have served and their families.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 01 July 2026

“The reality is that for far too long, too many veterans have put their lives at risk in the highest level of service to our country, only to struggle to adapt to civilian life while navigating a dauntingly complex support system. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide shone a light on the consequences of these critical safety nets failing to catch veterans when they needed help the most. Not only have the Albanese government voiced their ambition to fix this system, we have acted and we are delivering. For those who give everything, it is the responsibility of this government, of Defence and of community leaders to work hard at improving and strengthening the support system for our veterans, and to act at pace to reduce the tragic rate of suicide and suicidality in our defence community. The Albanese government takes this responsibility with the utmost seriousness and is committed to improving outcomes for our veterans. I commend this bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 01 July 2026

“The men and women of our Defence Force put their hand up to serve our nation, to do hard and dangerous things on our behalf. We ask them to give up the ordinary safety the rest of us take for granted. The very least we owe them in return is a system that supports them, that talks to itself, that sees them coming and that never makes them carry both halves of their own story alone. A handful of volunteers at a small sub-branch in Kensington shouldn't have to do the system's job for it. With this bill, the system finally starts doing its own. I commend the bill to the House.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 01 July 2026

“It is in that spirit of listening, acting and taking seriously the responsibility we owe to those who serve that I rise to support the Defence Legislation Amendment (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 2) Bill 2026. At its core, this bill is about information sharing. That might sound like a dry, technical phrase to some, but, for the families of those lost to suicide and for those currently serving who are silently struggling, it is anything but dry. It's about whether the right people in Defence and in the Department of Veterans' Affairs can see the full picture of a person's circumstances in time to intervene before a crisis becomes a tragedy. This bill creates the legislative authority for that information to move where it needs to move—between Defence and the DVA—underpinned by strong safeguards so that proactive support, early intervention and meaningful research and evaluation become possible rather than merely aspirational.”

Australian Labor Party • MP • 01 July 2026

“The Defence Legislation Amendment (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 2) Bill 2026 will be supported by the coalition, and it will be supported for these reasons. It directly implements 15 recommendations of the royal commission. Let us not forget that it was the coalition who introduced the royal commission, who ensured that it began. I know that when the royal commission came to Wagga Wagga it heard some harrowing evidence, and not just in Wagga Wagga, where we've got tri-service. We've got the Kapooka Army Recruit Training Centre. We've got Airpower starting at Wagga Wagga; it says so on the hangar facing the airport, the Royal Australian Air Force having been established there during the Second World War, if not before. And we've got 80 personnel serving in the Navy. It's a long way from the nearest drop of seawater, but we've got a very visible and active RAN presence in inland Wagga Wagga. Who would have thought? But it's strategic, it's good, it's proper, and those men and women are playing a fine role in the ADF.”

National Party • MP • 01 July 2026