In brief
- Military sexual assault survivors will be free to discuss their abuse at an upcoming inquiry.
- The government has waived non-disclosure agreements from the defence department that prevented survivors from speaking out.
Survivors of sexual violence in the Australian military will be able to discuss their abuse at an upcoming inquiry after the government waived gag orders preventing them giving evidence.
Veterans Affairs' Minister Matt Keogh has written to victims saying the government will not seek to enforce any non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
The move comes after a campaign by those who had suffered abuse, whistleblowers and civil society organisations.
"Veterans who served this country should not have to ask permission to speak about their lived experiences of military sexual violence," Julia Delaforce, a former RAAF airwoman and whistleblower, said.
"This amnesty is a critical step towards lifting the legal gag on military sexual violence survivors, so they can safely speak to the upcoming inquiry and help expose the institutional systems that failed them."
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Delaforce has led a campaign to ban NDAs after her own experience in the Australian military, as revealed to Nine in 2025.
After years spent seeking a resolution after being "trapped in a room with a machete-wielding corporal demanding oral sex", as Nine reported, instead she signed a settlement with Defence which gagged her from speaking about it.
She said the government's waiving of NDAs would allow the upcoming inquiry to be more truthful and should lead to a permanent ban on the clauses.
"The upcoming inquiry will only be meaningful if veteran survivors can participate without fear of legal threats, retaliation or being told once again to stay silent," she said.
Regina Featherstone of the Human Rights Law Centre, which has backed the push, said "the era of cover-up and silencing women must end".
"We urge the minister to extend these protections with a permanent amnesty for victim-survivors, so the Australian Defence Force can continue to reckon with the problem of sexual violence at the inquiry and beyond," she said.
The inquiry, due to begin later in 2026, was recommended by the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, completed in 2024.
In Keogh's letter, seen by the Australian Associated Press, the minister says defence no longer issues NDAs arising from sexual harassment and sexual violence matters, which are now the subject of a facilitated "restorative engagement" process.
The letter also states the government has not waived confidentiality for matters that "do not go to an ADF member's experience of sexual violence, including ... financial settlement details".
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