Defence Amendment (Call Out of the Australian Defence Force) Bill 2018

The majority voted against a second reading amendment moved by Tasmanian Senator Nick McKim (Greens). The amendment would have added the words below to the usual second reading motion, which was that they agree with the main idea of the bill. Or, in parliamentary jargon, that they "read the bill for a second time".

Motion text

At the end of the motion, add "but the Senate is of the opinion that:

(a) call out orders should be disallowable instruments so that they are subject to scrutiny by the Parliament; and

(b) the Parliament should sit within six days of any call out order being made".

What does the bill do?

The bill was introduced to clarify how the Australian Defence Force (ADF) can be called out to protect Commonwealth interests and states and self-governing territories from domestic violence. It was introduced following a Defence review after the Lindt café siege in Sydney.

It makes the following changes to:

• permit states and territories to request that the Commonwealth call out the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in a wider range of circumstances;
• enable call out orders to authorise the ADF to operate in multiple jurisdictions, as well as the offshore area;
• authorise the ADF to respond to incidents that cross a border into a jurisdiction that has not been specified in an order in certain circumstances;
• allow the ADF to be pre-authorised to respond to land and maritime threats, in addition to aviation threats;
• increase the requirements for the ADF to consult with state and territory police where it is operating in their jurisdictions;
• simplify, expand and clarify the power of the ADF to search and seize, and to control movement during an incident;
• remove the distinction between general security areas and designated areas; and
• for the purposes of expedited call out, clarify that acting ministers are to be treated as substantive ministers and add the Minister for Home Affairs as an alternative authorising minister.

Read more in the bills digest.