EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
INTERIM FORCES BENEFITS ACT 1947
INTERIM FORCES BENEFITS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Under section 9 of the Interim Forces Benefits Act 1947, 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 will give effect to the Government’s Budget decision to increase the current amount payable in respect of the cost of a funeral from $500 to $550.
Regulation 28 of the Interim Forces Benefits Regulations provides a monetary grant towards the funeral expenses of a veteran whose death is due to war service or who dies in indigent circumstances. It is also payable to a veteran who dies in an institution, while travelling to or from an institution to which the veteran had been authorised to proceed or after being discharged from an institution while terminally ill.
Proposed regulation 1 will increase the monetary grant towards funeral expenses of eligible veterans from $500 to $550.
Proposed regulation 2 establishes that the increase in the funeral benefit is to apply in respect of a death of a veteran that occurs on or after 1 November 1984.