The nation's first war crime murder trial involving an Australian Defence Force soldier won't happen until at least 2027, giving the government time to weigh up the case's national security implications.
Both the prosecution and defence in the case of former SAS soldier Oliver Jordan Schulz say they are yet to see all the evidence because a decision about what can be released hasn't yet been made.
Schulz pleaded not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday to the war crime of the murder of a young man in Afghanistan in 2012.
But a trial date was not set because national security concerns had delayed both sides from seeing much of the evidence against Schulz.
"There is no realistic prospect of a trial beginning in 2026," prosecutor Sean Flood SC said.
Schulz's lawyer agreed.
"I understand the importance of getting a trial date in a normal case," Phillip Boulton SC said.
"This is not a normal case."
Schulz is the first serving or former ADF member to face a war crime charge of murder under domestic law.
He is accused of killing Afghan man Dad Mohammad during a mission in May 2012.
Footage from a helmet camera, first aired publicly by the ABC Four Corners program in March 2020, appears to show Schulz and his squad approach a 25 or 26-year-old man in a wheat field in Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province.
Schulz then seems to fire three shots at Mr Mohammad, who was on his back with his hands and knees raised.
After the Four Corners report, then-defence minister Linda Reynolds referred the matter to Australian Federal Police.
Schulz was suspended from duty and later terminated from the ADF on medical grounds.
As part of the AFP investigation, officers searched his home in May 2022.
He was charged in March 2023, but due to a drawn-out committal hearing the case only reached the Supreme Court on Friday.
Security measures for the committal hearing were similar to those applied at an appeal by disgraced war hero Ben Roberts-Smith following his failed defamation suit against several media outlets.
Schulz's case is listed for further arraignment on December 12, by which time the federal government is expected to have informed the parties about what information will be suppressed for national security reasons.
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