Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

We expect the framework will be in place before the end of the year, and payments will be able to commence being made in early 2018. In the interim, I want to encourage those who have concerns or experiences that they feel they should report, both current and former members, to continue to report incidents of abuse through any of the mechanisms that exist and are available to them, including through the chain of command, if that's appropriate; through the Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Office, known as SEMPRO; through the Australian Defence Force Investigative Service; through the Inspector General of the ADF; through, where appropriate, local state and territory police; and, of course, through the Defence Force Ombudsman. We've made good progress in the development of the scheme with both the Defence Force Ombudsman and the relevant agencies. I appreciate the input that those agencies are making and look forward to finalising it as soon as we can.