EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1985 NO. 270
Minute No. 20 of 1985 - Minister of State for Veterans’ Affairs
Subject - Interim Forces Benefits Act 1947
Interim Forces Benefits Regulations (Amendment)
Under section 9 of the Interim Forces Benefits Act 1947, (the Act), the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to the Act.
The proposed Regulations are consequential to the provisions of the Repatriation Legislation Amendment Act 1985 (No. 90 assented to 6 June 1985) which gave effect to the decisions of the Government announced in the Treasurer’s Economic Statement on 14 May 1985.
The provisions of the Repatriation Legislation Amendment Act 1985 which affected the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations were the abolition of future grants of pensions and other benefits
to dependants of members of the Forces in respect of the member’s incapacity. Previously, benefits were extended to the wife and child of an incapacitated member. These benefits are now granted only to the widow and child of a member whose death is accepted by a Repatriation determining authority as being related to the member’s war service.
Details of the regulations are set out below.
Regulation 1 - Interpretation
Regulation 4 of the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations contains definitions of the terms used in those Regulations.
Regulation 1 amended the definition of “dependant” in former regulation 4 of the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations by removing the reference to the wife of the member, as benefits are no longer granted to the wife of an incapacitated member.
Regulation 2 - Extension of regulations to female members
Regulation 32 of the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations extends the provisions of certain of those Regulations and the Repatriation Regulations to a female member of the Forces
and her dependants. Former sub-regulation 32(2)(b) limited the assistance which could be provided under that regulation to the child of a female member of the Forces. The limitations reflected the provisions of repealed section 106 of the Repatriation Act 1920 as applied to members of the Interim Forces by section 7 of the Act. Section 106 of the Repatriation Act 1920 was amended by section 20 of the Repatriation Legislation Amendment Act 1985 to provide that a pension will not be granted or continued to the child of a female member of the Forces unless the child was without adequate means of support.
Sub-regulation 2(a) amended former sub-regulation 32(2) of the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations to reflect the provisions of the amended section 106 of the Repatriation Act 1920 as applied to members of the Interim Forces by section 7 of the Act.
Sub-regulation 2(b) repealed former sub-regulations 32(5) and 32(6) of the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations which imposed conditions on the extended operation of former regulation 12 of those regulations. The former regulation 12 of the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations was repealed by Statutory Rule No. 185 of 1978.
Regulation 3 - The Schedule
Regulation 3 has removed the reference to “sub-section (3) of section 37” from the definition of “dependant” in Item (a) of Part (i) of the former Schedule to the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations. Section 37 of the Repatriation Act 1920 was repealed by the Repatriation Acts Amendment Act 1978.
Authority: | Section 9 of the Interim Forces Benefits Act 1947 |