Australian Defence Force

David Shoebridge

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) on 2 July 2026, the Senate agreed to order for the production of documents no. 564, Defence reform study, with a compliance date of no later than 28 July 2026,

(ii) on 30 July 2026, the Minister representing the Minister for Defence provided a letter from the Minister for Defence which stated that additional time was required,

(iii) on 16 September 2026, the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme provided a letter of response from the Minister for Defence raising public interest immunity claims on the grounds that publication of the document would prejudice Australia's national security, disclose Cabinet deliberations, prejudice the effectiveness of future procurement and tender processes and prejudice Australia's international relations, and

(iv) the order has still not been complied with;

(b) rejects the public interest immunity claims raised by the Minister for Defence, noting that the Minister does not acknowledge the benefit to the public interest of having this document disclosed; and

(c) requires the Minister representing the Minister for Defence to comply with the order by 5 pm on Thursday, 22 October 2026.

Matt O'Sullivan

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Slade Brockman

Leave is granted for one minute.

Matt O'Sullivan

The opposition has been assured by the government that its public interest immunity claim is justified on cabinet confidentiality and national security grounds. As a party of government, the coalition respects these grounds for PII claims. The government has also assured the opposition that an appropriately redacted version of the report in question would effectively be of the same utility as the publicly available version on the Defence website. As such, the coalition does not support this motion.

Slade Brockman

The question is that general business notice of motion No. 753 be agreed to.