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2022-2023
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (MISCELLANEOUS
MEASURES) BILL 2023
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence
Personnel, The Honourable Matthew James Keogh MP)
Table of Contents
GENERAL OUTLINE ............................................................................................................................................... i
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT ......................................................................................................................... i
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS ................................................................................. ii
VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES) BILL 2023 ................... 1
Clause 1 Short title ............................................................................................................................................. 1
Clause 2 Commencement .................................................................................................................................. 1
Clause 3 Schedules............................................................................................................................................ 1
Schedule 1 - Annual report of the Repatriation Medical Authority....................................................................... 2
Schedule 2 - Consideration of claims ................................................................................................................. 3
Schedule 3 - Correction of references to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 ........................ 4
Schedule 4 - Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme ................................................................................. 5
Schedule 5- Rate of compensation for journey costs relating to treatment .......................................................... 7
VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (MISCELLANEOUS
MEASURES) BILL 2023
GENERAL OUTLINE
The Bill makes a range of minor and technical amendments to the veterans' affairs
legislation, to clarify, improve or streamline its operation, including the:
- Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA)
- Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA)
- Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 (DRCA), and
- Defence Service Homes Act 1918 (DSHA).
The Bill comprises the following five schedules:
Schedule 1 - Annual report of Repatriation Medical Authority: Schedule 1 of the Bill
will amend the VEA to require the Repatriation Medical Authority to table an annual report
that is to be provided to the Parliament as soon as practicable after the end of each financial
year.
Schedule 2 - Consideration of Claims: Schedule 2 of the Bill will amend the MRCA and
DRCA to change references to 'refuse to deal with claim' with language that is more
sympathetic and less antagonising to claimants and is reflective of actual practice.
Schedule 3 - Correction of references to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act
1999: Schedule 3 of the Bill will amend the VEA to fix incorrect references to the A New Tax
System (Family Assistance) Act 1999.
Schedule 4 - Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme: Schedule 4 of the Bill will amend
the DSHA to provide clarification as to the determination, revocation, replacement, variation
and content of the Statement of Conditions made under section 38A of the DSHA.
Schedule 5 - Rate of compensation for journey costs relating to treatment: Schedule 5 of
the Bill will amend provisions in the MRCA and the DRCA so that references to 'specified
rate per kilometre' will mean a rate per kilometre as specified in an instrument under section
16 of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRCA). This new definition
will capture the instrument made under subsection 16(6) as in force from time to time.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
The amendments in Schedule 5 have a negligible financial impact. The financial impact is
built into the forward estimates instead of requiring a specific Budget measure. The
amendments contained in the other schedules have no financial impacts.
i
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT
(MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES) BILL 2023
The Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2023 is
compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international
instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Schedule 1 - Annual report of the Repatriation Medical Authority
Overview of the Schedule
The proposed amendments in Schedule 1 amend the Veterans Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA)
to provide that the Repatriation Medical Authority must prepare an Annual Report at the end
of each financial year to give to the Minister for presentation to Parliament.
Human rights implications
This Schedule does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This Schedule is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Schedule 2 - Consideration of claims
Overview of the Schedule
Schedule 2 sets out minor amendments to the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act
2004 (MRCA) and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims)
Act 1988 (DRCA) to replace references to "refuse to deal with the claim" with more
sympathetic language.
Human rights implications
This Schedule does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This Schedule is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Schedule 3 - Correction of references to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act
1999
Overview of the Schedule
ii
The proposed amendments in Schedule 3 amend the VEA to fix incorrect references to the A
New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999.
Human rights implications
This Schedule does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This Schedule is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Schedule 4 - Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme
Overview of the Schedule
The proposed amendments in Schedule 4 amend the Defence Service Homes Act 1918 to
provide clarification as to the determination, revocation, replacement, variation and content
of the Statement of Conditions made under section 38A of that Act.
The Statement of Conditions is a legislative instrument that sets out the risks against which
the Commonwealth will undertake insurance under the relevant part of the Act, and other
terms and conditions relating to insurance by the Commonwealth under the relevant part of
the Act.
Human rights implications
The Schedule engages the right of everyone to social security in Article 9, and the right of
everyone to an adequate standard of living for an individual and their family, including
adequate food, clothing and housing, as well as the continuous improvement in living
conditions in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Access to the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme promotes human rights because it
provides compensation in the case of certain kinds of damages to housing for those that have
taken out an insurance policy under the scheme.
Conclusion
This Schedule is compatible with human rights because it promotes the protection of human
rights for veterans and their families.
Schedule 5 - Rate of compensation for journey costs relating to treatment
Overview of the Schedule
The amendments proposed to be made by Schedule 5 relate to the rate of compensation for
journey costs relating to treatment. This schedule will ensure the rates of compensation for
journey costs relating to treatment under the DRCA and MRCA will continue to be aligned
with the Comcare scheme under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
(SRCA).
iii
This avoids the requirement for a separate instrument to be made under the DRCA and
MRCA following each occasion the Minister with responsibility for the SRCA makes an
instrument changing the rate of travel for journey costs relating to treatment under the SRCA.
This also avoids the risk of the rates might fall out of sync with those under the SRCA,
potentially disadvantaging veterans and their families.
The Schedule defines the reference to a 'specified rate per kilometre' as the rate specified in
an instrument under subsection 16(6) of the SRCA (as that instrument is in force from time to
time).
Human rights implications
Right to health
The proposed amendments engage Article 12 of the ICESCR, which refers to the "right of
everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health".
The amendments promote the right to health by ensuring that veterans and their families are
appropriately compensated for their travel costs in attending treatment travel.
Conclusion
This Schedule is compatible with the right to health as it provides compensation for the cost
of travel for treatment.
.
iv
VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (MISCELLANEOUS
MEASURES) BILL 2023
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 Short title
This clause provides that the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous
Measures) Bill 2023 (the Bill), when enacted, is cited as the Veterans' Affairs Legislation
Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Act 2023 (the Act).
Clause 2 Commencement
This clause provides for the commencement of the whole of the Act on the day after the Act
receives Royal Assent.
Clause 3 Schedules
This clause provides that legislation specified in a Schedule to the Bill will be amended or
repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned. Any other item in a
Schedule to the Bill will have effect according to its terms. This is a technical provision to
give operational effect to the amendments contained in the Schedules.
1
Schedule 1 - Annual report of the Repatriation Medical Authority
Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA)
Item 1 inserts a new Division 4 to Part XIA of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA).
This new division provides that the Repatriation Medical Authority (RMA) must prepare and
give to the Minister (with administrative responsibility for the VEA) a report on the RMA's
activities during the financial year. This report is to be prepared as soon as practicable after
the end of each financial year and presented to the Parliament by the Minister.
The RMA was established on 30 June 1994 and has been publishing an annual report since
financial year 1994-95. The original annual reports were submitted under the Audit Act 1901,
which was repealed on 1 January 1998. Despite a lack of legislative requirements the RMA
has been publishing an annual report online every year since its establishment.
The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee report Annual Reports
(No. 1 and No. 2 of 2019) of 23 July 2019 recommended that, on the occasion of any
amendment to the VEA, the Government consider including a clause requiring the RMA to
table an annual report.
The then Government's response to the Committee agreed that a clause requiring the RMA to
table an annual report be included in a future amendment to the VEA. The proposed
amendments seek to implement the response to the recommendation.
This lack of legislative requirement to prepare an annual report contrasts with the legislative
requirements under the VEA to provide an annual report for the Repatriation Commission
and the Veterans Review Board.
This amendment aligns the requirements of the RMA to table an annual report with that of
the Repatriation Commission and the Veterans' Review Board under section 215 of the VEA.
Item 2 is an application provision which provides that this Schedule applies in relation to the
financial year ending on or after the commencement of the item. This clarifies that the
requirement to table an annual report is not intended to be retrospective.
2
Schedule 2 - Consideration of claims
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 and Safety, Rehabilitation and
Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988
Items 1 and 2 omit the current reference to "refuse to deal with the claim", under sections
330(3) of the MRCA and 58(3) of the DRCA. The items replace these references with "defer
further investigation of the claim" until a claimant gives the Commission or the relevant
authority the requested information or copy of document. The purpose of these items is to use
language that better reflects actual practice.
3
Schedule 3 - Correction of references to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act
1999
Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986
Items 1 and 2 amend the VEA to correct the references in paragraph 52ZZZF(1)(e) and
subsection 52ZZZG(2). These items will amend the current reference of clause 19 to
clause 38N of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999.
The Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme - New
Formula and Other Measures) Act 2006 commenced on 1 July 2008, repealing clause 19 of
Schedule 1. A new test was derived which referred to clause 38N. This relocated the Fringe
Test Benefit Part A income test and the income free area.
Amendments to correct the reference to the clause made in equivalent provisions under
sections 1208U and 1208V of the Social Security Act 1991 were made by the Social Services
and Other Legislation Amendment (Seniors Health Card and Other Measures) Act 2014 and
the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Act 2016 respectively.
Sections 1208U and 1208V of the Social Security Act 1991 are equivalents 52ZZZF and
52ZZZG of the VEA respectively.
4
Schedule 4 - Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme
Defence Service Homes Act 1918
Item 1 repeals subsection 38A(2) to (6) of the DSHA and substitutes new subsections that
clarify the operation of the relevant provisions. Section 38A of the DSHA provides the
Secretary the power to exercise the powers and functions of the Commonwealth necessary to
operate the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme (DSHIS) established under section 38
of the Act.
The Statement of Conditions is a legislative instrument that sets out the risks against which
the Commonwealth will undertake insurance under the relevant part of the DSHA, and other
terms and conditions relating to insurance by the Commonwealth under the relevant part of
the DSHA.
The DSHA was amended in 1988 to give effect to the then Government's decision to sell the
assets of the Defence Service Homes Corporation to the Westpac Banking Corporation
(Westpac).
The DSHIS was not included in the business sold to Westpac, and instead was a business that
continued as a self-funded home cooperative home insurance scheme, operated by the
Commonwealth and administered by the Veterans' Affairs Portfolio (under the
Administrative Arrangements Order for administration of the DSHA).
The whole of the DSHA was amended to give effect to the sale. Part VI of the Act formally
established the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme. All the rights, assets, debts,
liabilities and obligations of the former Defence Service Homes Corporation vested in the
Commonwealth from the date of the commencement of the Defence Service Homes
Amendment Act 1988 (Amendment Act).
Under the DSHIS, the Australian Government provides domestic building insurance for
dwelling-houses, rights of residence in retirement villages, land, building materials and
improvements of the kind referred to in section 38C and for houses, land, building materials
and improvements of the kind mentioned in section 38CA, to eligible veterans and Australian
Defence Force personnel.
Section 38A was originally drafted in the context that an existing Statement of Conditions,
that set out the risks against which the Commonwealth will undertake insurance, and other
terms and conditions relating to insurance, was made before the Amendment Act.
The drafting of section 38A left it unclear as to the extent the Minister may re-make or
otherwise revoke and replace the Statement of Conditions.
The amendments in Schedule 4 repeal certain subsections under section 38A and substitute
provisions that clarify the operation of the Statement of Conditions and the conditions to
vary, revoke and replace the Statement of Conditions.
The new provisions continue to ensure that any revocation or variation of the Statement of
Conditions must not remove the right of a person to receive a payment to which the person
had become entitled before the revocation or variation took effect.
5
Despite amendments made by this Schedule, the current Statement of Conditions as in force
immediately before the commencement of this Schedule continues to be in force until it is
varied, revoked or replaced by the Minister.
Statement of Conditions
The new subsection 38A(2) requires that the Secretary must comply with the Statement of
Conditions as in force from time to time and determined under subsection 38A(3), in
exercising the powers of the Commonwealth under Part VI of the DSHA.
The new subsection 38A(3) provides that the Minister may determine the Statement of
Conditions for the purpose of subsection 38A(2). Subsection 38A(3) clarifies that the
Statement of Conditions is a legislative instrument. A note after this subsection provides that
the content of the Statement of Conditions is subject to subsection 38A(6).
Revocation and replacement of Statement of Conditions
The new subsection 38A(4) provides that the Minister may revoke the Statement of
Conditions in force under section 38A. Subsection 38A(4) also states that if the Minister
revokes the Statement of Conditions, the Minister must determine another Statement of
Conditions in the same instrument for the purposes of subsection 38A(2).
Variation of Statement of Conditions
The new subsection 38A(5) states that the Minister may, by legislative instrument, vary the
Statement of Conditions in force under this section.
Variations and revocations of Statement of Conditions are subject to subsection 38A(7).
Content of Statement of Conditions
The new subsection 38A(6) requires that the Statement of Conditions must deal with the risks
against which the Commonwealth will undertake insurance under Part VI of the DSHA and
other terms and conditions relating to insurance undertaken by the Commonwealth under Part
VI of the DSHA.
Subsection 38A(6) does not limit the matters that may be dealt with by the Statement of
Conditions.
No removal of right of person to receive payment
Subsection 38A(7) provides that the Minister must not revoke or vary the Statement of
Conditions if that revocation or variation would remove a person's right to a payment under
the DSHIS if that person had become entitled before the revocation or variation.
Item 2 provides for a transitional provision to provide that despite the amendments made
under Item 1, the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme (Statement of Conditions)
Variation 2019 continues to be in force, until such time as a new Statement of Conditions is
made and commences under subsection 38A(3).
It also provides that until a new Statement of Conditions is made under subsection 38A(3),
that the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme (Statement of Conditions) Variation 2019
should be taken as the Statement of Conditions made under 38A(2).
6
Schedule 5- Rate of compensation for journey costs relating to treatment
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 and Safety, Rehabilitation and
Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988
Items 1 and 2 will repeal the definition and note under subsection 293(3) of the MRCA and
the definition in subsection 16(6) of the DRCA respectively. The repealed subsections
provide that the Minister (who administers the MRCA and DRCA) determines the rate per
kilometre for the purposes of section 293 of the MRCA and section 16 of the DRCA, by
legislative instrument. Section 293 of the MRCA and section 16 of the DRCA provide for the
amount of compensation for journey costs relating to treatment.
The repealed definitions are substituted with a new one that provides that a specified rate per
kilometre means the rate per kilometre specified in an instrument made under subsection
16(6) of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRCA), as the instrument is
in force from time to time. This amendment means that for the purposes of both the MRCA
and the DRCA that the specified rate per kilometre under the SRCA is automatically adopted
when there are changes to that rate.
These amendments seek to ensure that there is parity of certain entitlements between persons
entitled to the MRCA and DRCA compensation schemes and to employees entitled to the
SRCA compensation scheme.
All three Acts provide for a rate of compensation for journey costs relating to treatment
provided under the relevant Act. Under the existing framework the relevant Minister for each
Act (see section 19 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901) determine the rate per kilometre by
legislative instrument. The current framework leads to three separate instruments applying
and can lead to differences in the specified rate per kilometre compensation available to
persons undertaking travel for treatment.
A recent example of this is where the then Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial
Relations made an instrument under subsection 16(6) of the SRCA, specifying a rate of $0.68
per kilometre, on and from the commencement date of that instrument, 24 September 2019.
The equivalent instruments in place under the MRCA and DRCA at the time the SRCA
instrument commenced specified a rate of $0.60 per kilometre. The MRCA and DRCA
instruments were replaced by instruments made by the then Minister for Veterans' Affairs
that also specified a rate of $0.68 per kilometre. These instruments commenced on
1 November 2020.
This resulted in disparity for equivalent types of compensation between 24 September 2019
and 1 November 2020. The amendments made in Schedule 5 ensure that this type of disparity
will not occur again. The amendments made under Schedule 5 also reduce the administrative
burden related to ensuring parity between schemes.
This will ensure that reimbursement for medical treatment related travel across the MRCA,
DRCA and SRCA will be provided at a consistent rate per kilometre for members and former
members of the Australian Defence Force, Commonwealth employees and others covered by
the SRCA.
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