EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1983 NO 203
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
AUSTRALIAN MILITARY REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Parts III, X and XV and section 116 of the Statute Law Revision Act 1981 make various changes to the titles and structures of the Reserve Forces in the Air Force, the Army and the Navy. These changes, which stem from recommendations of the 1974 Millar Committee Report on the Citizen Military Forces, come into operation from the date of proclamation (on 30 September 1983). Part X amends the Defence Act 1903 (“the Act”) to make the necessary changes in relation to Army Reserve Forces.
Under these amendments, the Citizen Military Forces are renamed as the Australian Army Reserve, the Active Citizen Military Forces as the Active Australian Army Reserve, and the Reserve Citizen Military Forces as the Inactive Australian Army Reserve. The Regular Army Reserve, which is a non-training element of the Permanent Forces, is abolished and its members transferred to the Inactive Australian Army Reserve. In the context of Reserve Forces, ‘Active’ denotes those elements where members have specific training obligations.
References to the Unattached List and the Reserve of Officers are removed from the Act. These relate to internal arrangements of the Active and Inactive Reserve which can be determined by the Chief of the General Staff under section 33 of the Act.
The Australian Military Regulations, made under the Act, prescribe various matters for the purposes of the Act, including provisions relating to the Reserve Forces.
This Statutory Rule makes amendments to the Australian Military Regulations consequential on those made by Part X of the Statute Law Revision Act 1981. The effect of these amendments is set out below.
Regulations 2, 6, 9 and 10 of the Statutory Rule repeal the following regulations made redundant by the new scheme: 120, 120A, 121, 121A, 483, 495, 498 and 499.
Regulations 5 and 11 repeal Divisions 5 and 9 of Part VI, thereby repealing the following regulations also made redundant by the new scheme: 458, 460, 462, 502, 503, 504, 506, 507, 508, 516 and 520.
Regulation 3 of the Statutory Rule amends regulation 125 to enable military title to be granted to a former officer whose name is placed on a retired list.
Regulation 4 of the Statutory Rule makes a consequential amendment to regulation 193A which refers to a section of the Act amended by Part X of the Statute Law Revision Act 1981.
Regulation 7 of the Statutory Rule repeals regulations 486, 487 and 488, which provide for training periods and programmes, and substitutes new regulations 486, 487, 488 and 488A, which provide for the rendering of Reserve Service in accordance with a revised section 50 of the Act.
The new regulation 486 requires the Chief of the General Staff to determine training periods in respect of the Active Australian Army Reserve generally, or in respect of different parts or classes of members of that Reserve.
The new regulation 487 enables the Chief of the General Staff to fix periods of military service to be rendered by members in each training period. There is provision for different periods of military service to be fixed for different parts or different classes of members of the Active Australian Army Reserve. There is also provision for the Chief of the General Staff to exempt particular members or particular classes of members from the obligation to render military service.
The new regulations 488 and 488A prescribe the Chief of the General Staff as the authority to fix periods of training and kinds of military service which may be rendered by members of the Active Australian Army Reserve who voluntarily undertake to render service in addition to the service they are bound to render.
Regulation 8 of the Statutory Rule substitutes a new regulation 493 to prescribe a method for calculating the credit to be obtained where a period of service rendered has been less than one day.
Regulation 12 of the Statutory Rule makes the amendments set out in the Schedule to the Statutory Rule, which are title changes corresponding to those made by Part X of the Statute Law Revision Act 1981.
Commencement
The Statutory Rule comes into operation on 30 September 1983, the date from which Parts III, X and XV and section 116 of the Statute Law Revision Act 1981 are proclaimed to commence.