Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986

Subject to this section, where a person:

has served in the Defence Force for a continuous period that commenced on or after 7 December 1972 and before the terminating date; or

is serving in the Defence Force on or after the terminating date and has so served continuously since a date before that date;

if the person:

has served on continuous full‑time service as a member of the Defence Force after 6 December 1972; and

has, whether before or after that date, completed 3 years’ effective full‑time service as such a member; or

if:

the person has served as a member of the Defence Force under an engagement to serve for a period of continuous full‑time service of not less than 3 years; and

the person’s service as such a member was terminated before the person had completed 3 years’ effective full‑time service as a member of the Defence Force, but after 6 December 1972, by reason of the person’s death or the person’s discharge on the ground of invalidity or physical or mental incapacity to perform duties; or

if:

the person has served as an officer of the Defence Force otherwise than under an appointment to serve for a period of continuous full‑time service of less than 3 years; and

the person’s service as such an officer was terminated before the person had completed 3 years’ effective full‑time service as a member of the Defence Force, but after 6 December 1972, by reason of the person’s death or the termination of the person’s appointment on the ground of invalidity or physical or mental incapacity to perform duties; or

if the person:

was, immediately before 7 December 1972, a national serviceman or a national service officer, for the purposes of the National Service Act 1951, serving in the Regular Army Supplement; and

on or after that date:

completed the period of service in the Regular Army Supplement for which the person was to be deemed to have been engaged to serve or for which the person was appointed, as the case may be; or

the person’s service in the Regular Army Supplement was terminated by reason of the person’s death, or of the person’s discharge or the termination of the person’s appointment, on the ground of invalidity or physical or mental incapacity to perform duties.

Where:

a person has served in the Defence Force as set out in subsection (1); and

after, but not immediately after, the termination of the period of service referred to in that subsection, the person commenced or commences to render a further period of service in the Defence Force;

Where a person renders continuous full‑time service as a member of the Defence Force at some time after the commencement of this Act and before the terminating date but has not so rendered continuous full‑time service continuously from and including the day immediately before the date of commencement of this Act to that time, subsection (1) does not apply in respect of the person unless:

the person completes 3 years’ effective full‑time service as such a member before the terminating date; or

the person’s service as a member or officer of the Defence Force is terminated as provided by paragraph (1)(d) or (e), whichever is applicable, before the terminating date.

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c):

the service of a person as an officer of the Navy on the General List while the person was undertaking pre‑employment training shall be disregarded unless the person has subsequently been promoted to the rank of sub‑lieutenant or a higher rank;

the service of a person:

as an enlisted member of the Corps of Staff Cadets of the Army; or

as an officer cadet of the Army while undertaking a four‑year course of training;

the service of a person as an Air Cadet, or as an Officer Cadet of the Air Force, shall be disregarded unless the person has subsequently been appointed or promoted to the rank of pilot officer or a higher rank.

Paragraph (1)(d) or (e) does not apply in respect of a person if the person’s service as a member of the Defence Force was terminated by reason of the person’s discharge, or the termination of the person’s appointment:

before the person had completed 12 months’ effective full‑time service; and

on the ground of invalidity or physical or mental incapacity to perform duties, being invalidity or incapacity caused, or substantially contributed to, by a physical or mental condition that:

existed at the time the person commenced continuous full‑time service as a member of the Defence Force; and

had not been aggravated, or materially aggravated, by that service.

Paragraph (1)(e) does not apply in respect of a person if the person’s service as a member of the Defence Force was terminated by reason of the person’s death, or the termination of the person’s appointment, during a period of service of the person of a kind referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of effective full‑time service in subsection 68(1).

Where a member of the Defence Force who has rendered continuous full‑time service in pursuance of a voluntary undertaking given by the member and accepted by the appropriate authority of the Defence Force was not serving on continuous full‑time service immediately before the member commenced to render that service:

if the member was an officer on the day on which the member so commenced—the member shall be deemed, for the purposes of paragraph (1)(e), to have been appointed as an officer of the Defence Force on that day for service for the period for which the member was bound to serve on continuous full‑time service by virtue of that undertaking; or

in any other case—the member shall be deemed, for the purpose of paragraph (1)(d), to have been engaged to serve as a member of the Defence Force on that day for service for the period for which the member was bound to serve on continuous full‑time service by virtue of that undertaking.