Eligibility for age service pension
36 Eligibility for age service pension
Subject to subsection (4), a person is eligible for an age service pension if the person:
is a veteran; and
has rendered qualifying service; and
has reached pension age.
Note 1A: For veteran see subsection 5C(1).
For qualifying service see section 7A.
For pension age see section 5QA.
Additional eligibility criterion for Commonwealth veterans, allied veterans and allied mariners
Subject to subsection (2A), a person who is a veteran by reason only of being a Commonwealth veteran, an allied veteran or an allied mariner must, in addition to meeting the requirements of subsection (1), have been an Australian resident for a continuous period of at least 10 years.
Subsection (2) does not apply to:
a refugee; or
a former refugee.
Where:
a veteran has been an Australian resident during more than one period; and
the longer or longest of those periods is less than 10 years but is not less than 5 years; and
the aggregate of those periods is more than 10 years;
in the application of subsection (2) to the veteran, the period of 10 years specified in that subsection is to be reduced by a period equal to the period by which the aggregate is more than 10 years.
If:
a veteran lodges a proper claim for an age service pension before meeting the eligibility requirements referred to in subsection (1); and
the veteran ceases to be an Australian resident after lodging the claim and before the claim is determined;
the veteran is not eligible for age service pension unless:
the day on which the veteran met all the eligibility requirements; and
the day from which age service pension would, if the claim were granted, be payable;
are earlier than the day on which the veteran ceased to be an Australian resident.
The statute text is free to read above. View subscription options to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.