The Australian Military and Its Justice System: Development, Organisation and Disciplinary Structure

Abstract

To understand the military justice system of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) requires knowledge of the development of Australia’s naval and military forces (collectively called the ‘military’) since commencement of colonization in 1788. This chapter briefly examines the historical development of each stage of military discipline from colonial times until the current period. This chapter argues that the ‘chain of command’ is not only crucial to the enforcement of military discipline in general, but it is the prevailing management concept utilized within the ADF. This concept is examined through: • the genesis of formal structures of military justice, • the development of Australian military structures and disciplinary regimes, and • the importance of the chain of command within the military justice system