Retired Army chief Lieutenant General David Morrison has denied there was a "conspiracy" surrounding his announcement of investigations into the so-called Jedi Council sex ring two years ago.

Ten days after his retirement, Lt Gen Morrison spoke to Australian Story about the challenges he faced trying to overhaul the sexist culture in the Australian Army, including dealing with the Jedi Council scandal.

The Jedi Council was the name adopted by a group of serving Army members, including one reservist, which was investigated by police and the military for sharing offensive and sexually explicit emails using a defence email system.

At the time, Lt Gen Morrison called the emails "appalling", "derogatory" and "demeaning".

On the day he went public about the accusations against the group, the Army boss made a YouTube address telling troops there was "no place" for army members who "exploit and demean" their colleagues and telling them to behave or "get out".

The speech went viral, attracting attention for its bold message and Lt Gen Morrison's no-nonsense delivery.

He has now hit back at claims he may have known about the accusations against Army personnel a year earlier than he previously stated.

Lt Gen Morrison has always maintained he learnt about the police investigation in April 2013.

However, the retired Army chief told the ABC a senior staffer in his office received a phone call from New South Wales Police about the investigation in July 2012, almost a year before the Army boss went public with the scandal.

He said his staffer was told by police that "an individual, a reservist, was being considered for prosecution by the New South Wales Police, for inappropriate use of an internet provider", but that the staffer did not think it was serious enough to pass on to his superior.

"In the hurly burly of all the things that happen in the office of the Chief of Army, that wasn't something that he thought was important enough to bring to my attention," Lt Gen Morrison said.

Lawyer John Sutton acted for a number of soldiers who were sacked in relation to their connection to the Jedi Council.

Mr Sutton raised questions about the retired Army boss's version of events during an interview with Channel 7 in January.

"It really does beggar belief to think that he wouldn't have been told and he wouldn't have been informed of such a dramatic and important issue going on in his own organisation," Mr Sutton said.

Loading...

However, Lt Gen Morrison said the staff member made "the right decision because there was nothing to go on then in 2012".

"It was only in 2013 that ... the dimensions of what had occurred were defined enough for me as a service chief to then commence taking action, and I did," he said.

"There was no conspiracy here."

Hastings Frederickson, the reservist who sent graphic emails in July 2010 to members of the Jedi Council, previously worked at the Army’s Special Operations Command.

He has since pleaded guilty to three charges of using a carriage service to cause offence and received a suspended sentence earlier this year.

Charges were dropped against two other Army members.

Lt Gen Morrison's YouTube speech has received more than 1.5 million hits and has made him a highly sought-after speaker on gender and cultural change issues.

The Army sacked a number of soldiers in connection with the scandal.