Defence chief Angus Campbell says he does not want a review stemming from a report into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan to focus on just one element of the military.
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Special investigator Justice Mark Weinberg has been tasked with assessing matters raised in a report by Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Paul Brereton, ahead of possible briefs of evidence being handed to prosecutors.
Justice Brereton, who led a four-year investigation into the allegations, recommended 19 serving and former ADF members be prosecuted for 39 unlawful killings and the torture of two prisoners.
But at the same time, work is under way on a defence plan to implement dozens of other recommendations in the Brereton report about ethics, culture and accountability.
General Campbell told the Airforce newspaper he expected the implementation plan to be publicly released once it had been finalised and the defence minister had looked at it.
"This is a really important milestone in the defence force holding itself to account, living and expressing its values and defining for itself what it should be," he said.
"It doesn't speak well of a part of the ADF experience at a point in time, but now we need to deal with it and recognise that we will be a better force for that.
"Importantly the idea isn't to deal with Special Operations Command or Army, because if this has gone wrong in one part of our organisation, it has the potential to go wrong in any other part, so the response needs to be whole of institution."
He said it was important the ADF was an organisation that is "deeply conscious of the ethical nature and responsibilities of military force and the constraints and disciplines around the use of violence or force in international affairs".
The Office of the Special Investigator, led by director-general Chris Moraitis, started its work on January 4 and Justice Weinberg began in his role on February 1.
Its work to date has focused on recruitment of experienced investigators from the Australian Federal Police and state and territory police forces, as well as legal and administrative staff.
It has also been making arrangements to review the material on which the Brereton report was based and putting in place accountability processes, a spokesman told AAP.
Australian Associated Press
