Details of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Veterans' Affairs Measures No. 3) Regulations 2022

 

Section 1 - Name

 

This section provides that the title of the Regulations is the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Veterans' Affairs Measures No. 3) Regulations 2022.

 

Section 2 - Commencement

 

This section provides that the Regulations commence on the day after the instrument is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

 

Section 3 - Authority

 

This section provides that the Regulations are made under the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997.

 

Section 4 - Schedules

 

This section provides that the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 are amended as set out in the Schedule to the Regulations.

 

Schedule 1 - Amendments

 

Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997

 

Item 1 - In the appropriate position in Part 3 of Schedule 1AB (table)

 

This item adds a new table item to Part 3 of Schedule 1AB to establish legislative authority for government spending on an activity that will be administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (the department).

 

New table item 58 establishes legislative authority for the Government to provide a grant to Legacy Australia Incorporated to deliver the Legacy's commemorative program for the benefit of veterans and their families.

 

Legacy Australia Incorporated (Legacy) is a volunteer-based organisation which supports the families of Australian service personnel who have died or lost their health as a result of their service. Legacy provides emotional, social and financial support to veterans' families.

 

Legacy was formed after the First World War when returning service personnel volunteered to support the families of their fallen comrades; these volunteers became 'Legatees', and today over 3,600 Legatees support service families. Over 44 Legacy clubs operate in local communities around Australia, and one in the United Kingdom, supporting over 43,000 partners and children of veterans who have died or been injured as a result of their service. Legacy's remit has expanded, to support families of those service personnel who are still alive but have had their health or mental health compromised by their service. 

 

2023 marks Legacy's 100^th anniversary. Legacy has developed a program of commemorative activities to mark this significant date. A one-off closed grant of $0.4 million to Legacy will contribute to a torch relay from Pozieres in France, to London, and onto Australia, where the Legacy torch will visit different communities around the country stopping at each Legacy Club and finishing in Melbourne.

 

Mouquet Farm in France, near the location of the Battle for Pozieres, is reputed to be the site of the first recorded promise by a 'Digger' in 1916 to look after his friend's wife and children if he didn't return from the First World War. This public event aims to raise community awareness of the experience of veterans and their families, the impacts of service, and will allow Legacy to build its profile and assist in fundraising for future years.

 

The department runs the Saluting Their Service (STS) Commemorative Grants Program, which can provide one-off funding to applicants for domestic commemorative projects acknowledging the active service of defence personnel. Funding an overseas commemorative program and funding the commemoration of an organisation (rather than the commemoration of active service) are not eligible for funding under STS.

 

Legislative authority through table item 58 will enable the department to support Legacy with a grant in accordance with the Commonwealth resource management framework, including the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines 2017.

 

The grant will be administered by the Community Grants Hub, which is part of the Department of Social Services. Grant opportunity guidelines will be developed and information about the program will be published on the Community Grants Hub and GrantConnect websites (www.communitygrants.gov.au and www.grants.gov.au). 

 

The department will nominate the dates when the application will open and close. The grant will be closed, non-competitive and Legacy will be invited to submit an application. The application will be assessed by the department against nominated selection criteria. Final decisions about the grant will be made by the Secretary of the department and the grant recipient information will be published on GrantConnect.

 

Decisions made in connection with the grant are not considered appropriate for merits review as they relate to the provision of a one-off grant to a certain service provider, over other service providers. The Administrative Review Council has recognised that it is justifiable to exclude merits review in relation to decisions of this nature (see paragraphs 4.16 to 4.19 of the guide, What decisions should be subject to merit review?).

 

The department will consult with Legacy to understand the design and planning of the commemorative program. The event also has a number of corporate sponsors, including Defence Health (a not-for-profit insurance company aimed at Defence personnel), Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Harvey Norman, and others.

 

Funding of $0.4 million in 2022-23 to Legacy will come from Program 3.2: Commemorative Activities, which is part of Outcome 3. Details are set out in the October 2022-23 Budget and the Portfolio Budget Statements, Defence portfolio (Veterans' Affairs).

 

Noting that it is not a comprehensive statement of relevant constitutional considerations, the purpose of the item references the defence power (section 51(vi)) of the Constitution.

 

Defence power

 

Section 51(vi) of the Constitution empowers the Parliament to make laws with respect to 'the naval and military defence' of the Commonwealth and States, and the 'control of the forces to execute and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth'.

 

The grant will support Legacy by contributing to the Legacy 100th Anniversary Torch Relay. The Legacy 100th Anniversary Torch Relay forms part of Legacy's commemorative program of activities to mark its 100th anniversary in 2023. 

 

Legacy was formed after the First World War, when returning service men volunteered to support the families of their fallen comrades. Legacy provides a range of support to veterans and their families including emotional, social and financial support to veterans' families, with the goal to provide stability, guidance and assistance

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

 

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Veterans' Affairs
Measures No. 3) Regulations 2022

 

This disallowable legislative instrument 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.

 

Overview of the legislative instrument

 

Section 32B of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997 (the FF(SP) Act) authorises the Commonwealth to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants specified in the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 (the FF(SP) Regulations) and to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants for the purposes of programs specified in the Regulations. Schedule 1AA and Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations specify the arrangements, grants and programs. The powers in the FF(SP) Act to make, vary or administer arrangements or grants may be exercised on behalf of the Commonwealth by Ministers and the accountable authorities of non-corporate Commonwealth entities, as defined under section 12 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

 

The Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Veterans' Affairs
Measures No. 3) Regulations 2022 amend Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations to establish legislative authority the Government to provide a grant to Legacy Australia Incorporated (Legacy) to deliver the Legacy's commemorative program for the benefit of veterans and their families. The grant program is administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

 

Legacy is a volunteer-based organisation which supports the families of Australian service personnel who have died or lost their health as a result of their service. Legacy provides emotional, social and financial support to veterans' families.

 

Legacy is celebrating its 100^th anniversary in 2023. To acknowledge this significant milestone, the Australian Government will provide an ad hoc grant of $0.4 million in 2022-23 to contribute towards the Legacy 100^th Anniversary Torch Relay. Legacy's commemorative program will include a range of events designed to raise awareness of the experience of veterans and their families, the impacts of service and the work of Legacy, scholarship support, morning teas, and exhibitions. The grant will contribute to an international torch relay where the Legacy emblem, 'the torch of remembrance', will travel from Pozieres in France, to London, and onto Australia where it will visit different communities, stopping at each Legacy Club and finishing in Melbourne.

 

The public event aims to raise community awareness of the experience of veterans and their families, the impacts of service, and the work of Legacy and to build its profile and assist in fundraising for future years.

 

Human rights implications

 

This disallowable legislative instrument engages the following rights:

*         the right to the highest standard of physical and mental health - Article 12 of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), read with Article 2 and Article 25 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), read with Article 4;

*         the right to live, take part and be included in the community - Articles 19 and 26 of the CRPD; and

*         the right to participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport - Article 30 of the CRPD.

 

Right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

 

Article 2 of the ICESCR provides that each State Party undertakes to take steps to the maximum of its available resources with a view to achieving progressively the full realisation of the rights recognised in the Covenant, by all appropriate means.

 

Article 4 of the CRPD requires States Parties to undertake to ensure and promote the full realisation of all human rights for those with a disability without discrimination.

 

Article 12(1) of the ICESCR promotes the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Article 25 of the CRPD also states that "States Parties recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability".

 

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the right to health entails a right of access to a variety of public health and health care facilities, goods, services, programs and conditions necessary for the realisation of the highest attainable standard of health. The 1946 Constitution of the WHO defines health in its preamble as "a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".

 

Legacy expanded its remit to provide support to families of those service personnel who are still alive but have had their health or mental health compromised by their service, such as those suffering the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or mental trauma.

 

Legacy provides a range of support to veterans and their families including emotional, social and financial support to veterans' families, with the goal to provide the stability, guidance and assistance to the family that would usually have come from the partner. Legacy was formed after the First World War, when returning service men volunteered to support the families of their fallen comrades; these volunteers became 'Legatees', and today over 3,600 Legatees support service families. Over 44 Legacy clubs operate in local communities around Australia, and one in the United Kingdom, supporting over 43,000 partners and children of veterans who have died or been injured.

 

Right to live, take part and be included in community

 

Article 19 of the CRPD requires States Parties to 'recognise the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others' and to 'facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities and their full inclusion and participation in the community'.

 

Article 19(b)of the CRPD goes on to say, including by ensuring 'that persons with disabilities have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community'.

 

This is complemented by Article 26(1) of the CRPD which requires States Parties to take effective and appropriate measures 'to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability, and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life'. 

 

Legacy provides social connection services that assist veterans, and their families participate in the community and combat social isolation. Legacy's services foster social connection through local events, holidays and camps where widows, children and families can come together to create friendship and community. In circumstances where widows are not able to attend gatherings in person, contact is made by phone calls or visits from their Legatee or Legacy community social worker.

 

Legacy provides support for children, with a special priority given to education. Legacy assists with children's education and development and provides grants and scholarships; mentoring programs for children that assist with education and life choices; adventure activities and holiday camps.

 

Right to participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport

 

Article 30(5)(c) of the CRPD states that 'with a view to enabling persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting, recreational and tourism venues.

 

Many positive benefits flow from veterans and their families being able to participate in commemorative activities, services and visit sites of remembrance.

 

Facilitating support to people injured by war service, people affected by their military service, and their families, can allow them to build and maintain social connections, participate in community and in many instances receive support to access monuments and sites of national cultural significance.  

 

Conclusion

 

This disallowable legislative instrument is compatible with human rights because it promotes the protection of human rights.

 

 

 

 

 

Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher

Minister for Finance