Defence Housing Australia Amendment Bill 2025

The majority voted in favour of an amendment to the usual second reading amendment, which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill). The amendment was introduced by Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie (Jacqui Lambie Network) and added the following words:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate calls on the Government to:

(a) guarantee that members of the Australian Defence Force and their families, officers and employees of the Department of Defence and their families, and persons contracted to provide goods or services to the Australian Defence Force or the Department and their families are given priority access to Defence Housing over foreign personnel; and

(b) ensure that the full costs of providing Defence Housing and housing-related services to foreign governments, military organisations and their contractors are fully recovered from those entities, and not subsidised by Australian taxpayers; and

(c) improve transparency by requiring Defence Housing Australia to publish data on housing allocations, waiting times for Australian Defence Force members, and the net financial impact of housing foreign personnel".

While these types of motions do not have any legal force on their own, they are politically influential as they represent the will of the Senate.