Constitutional validity of military justice legislation

In these proceedings Mr Haskins challenged the constitutional validity of remedial legislation following the decision in Lane v Morrison (2009) 239 CLR 230 that the provisions of the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982 establishing the Australian Military Court (AMC) were invalid. In the aftermath of that decision, the Military Justice (Interim Measures) Act (No 2) 2009 (IM Act) was passed. Item 5 of Sch 1 of the IM Act applied where the AMC had imposed punishment (other than imprisonment) so as to declare the rights and liabilities of all persons to be the same as if the punishment was properly imposed by general courts-martial, which were subject to review within the chain of command under further provisions of the IM Act. The validity of that statutory fiction was upheld by majority, such that by legislative fiat the invalidly imposed punishments were effectively restored.