EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Veterans' Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Amendment (Special Assistance) Determination 2025
EMPOWERING PROVISION
The Repatriation Commission makes this instrument under paragraph 5H(12)(c) of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act (1986) (the Act).
PURPOSE
The purpose of the instrument is to amend the Veterans’ Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Determination 2025 so that it refers to two special assistance instruments, made under section 106 of the Act, on 21 March 2025: the Veterans’ Entitlements (Special Assistance – Crisis Payments) Instrument 2025 and the Veterans’ Entitlements (Special Assistance – Motorcycle Purchase) Instrument 2025. The amendments also commence at the same time as those special assistance instruments, which is to say 21 February 2025.
OVERVIEW
The Veterans’ Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Determination 2025 exempts the specified payments from the means test and ensures they are exempted as income for income support purposes. This ensures the impact of these specified payments on a person’s income support is minimised. Two payments that have always been treated as exempt income are those that are paid through instruments made under section 106 of the Act: the crisis payment and the motorcycle GST rebate.
The instruments governing these payments – the Veterans’ Entitlements (Special Assistance – Crisis Payments) Instrument 2025 and the Veterans’ Entitlements (Special Assistance – Motorcycle Purchase) Instrument 2025 – were remade on 21 March 2025, as the predecessor instruments were due to sunset. However, the Veterans’ Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Determination 2025 was not updated to refer to the latest versions of these special assistance instruments. This posed a risk that payments made under these two instruments could not be lawfully treated as exempt income.
This instrument addresses both problems by updating the Veterans’ Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Determination 2025 to refer to the latest versions of the special assistance instruments, and aligning commencement of the amendments with the commencement of the special assistance instruments to ensure decisions to treat the relevant special assistance payments as exempt income between 21 February 2025 and the day after this instrument is registered, were lawful.
The legislative authority to amend the Veterans’ Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Determination 2025 is paragraph 5H(12)(c) of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 as qualified by subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
The amendment is intended to be beneficial to veterans and their families who are in receipt of the special assistance payments and income support payments, as it ensures that special assistance payments are treated as exempt from the income test.
EXPLANATION OF PROVISIONS
Section 1 provides that the name of the instrument is the Veterans' Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Amendment (Special Assistance) Determination 2025.
Section 2 provides that sections 1 to 4 of the instrument commence on the day after the day it is registered; and Schedule 1, items 1 and 2 commence on the same date as the Veterans’ Entitlements (Special Assistance – Crisis Payments) Instrument 2025 and the Veterans’ Entitlements (Special Assistance – Motorcycle Purchase) Instrument 2025. These two instruments commenced at the same time as item 84 of Schedule 2 of the Administrative Review Tribunal (Miscellaneous Measures) Act 2025. Schedule 2 of that Act commenced the day after the Act received the Royal Assent. Therefore, the special assistance instruments commenced on 21 February 2025.
A note to provision clarifies that aligning commencement of Schedule 1 with the special assistance instruments ensures that the amendments cover the period from commencement of those instruments to the making of this instrument. Any payments made under the special assistance instruments before this instrument are validly treated as exempt lump sums. Therefore, retrospective commencement has a beneficial effect.
Section 3 sets out the authority for the Repatriation Commission making the instrument, namely paragraph 5H(12)(c) of the Act. Subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 provides that the empowering provision should be construed to include the power to amend the original determination made under the provision.
Section 4 gives effect to Schedule 1 which omits the names of the previous versions of the special assistance instruments and substitutes the names of the latest versions of these instruments.
CONSULTATION
The Department did not consult directly with individuals likely to be affected by the remake of this instrument. This was not considered necessary given the remake is administrative in nature and beneficially maintains the exclusion of these special assistance payments from the income test for income support payments, ensuring that veterans and their dependents retain their current level of entitlements.
HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLICATIONS
This instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared under section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. A full statement of compatibility is set out in Attachment A.
Approved by:
Luke Brown
First Assistant Secretary, Policy and Research Division
A delegate of the Repatriation Commission
Rule-maker
Attachment A
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Veterans' Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Amendment (Special Assistance) Determination 2025
This disallowable legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Disallowable Legislative Instrument
The Veterans’ Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Determination 2025 exempts the specified payments from the means test and ensures they are not treated as income for income support purposes. This ensures the impact of these specified payments on a person’s income support is minimised. Two payments that have always been treated as exempt income are those that are paid through instruments made under section 106 of the Act: the crisis payment and the motorcycle GST rebate.
The instruments governing these payments – the Veterans’ Entitlements (Special Assistance – Crisis Payments) Instrument 2025 and the Veterans’ Entitlements (Special Assistance – Motorcycle Purchase) Instrument 2025 – were remade on 21 March 2025, as the predecessor instruments were due to sunset. However, the Veterans’ Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Determination 2025 was not updated to refer to the latest versions of these special assistance instruments. This posed a risk that payments made under these two instruments could not be lawfully treated as exempt income.
This instrument addresses both problems by updating the Veterans’ Entitlements (Income Exempt Lump Sums) Determination 2025 to refer to the latest versions of the special assistance instruments, and aligning commencement of the amendments with the commencement of the special assistance instruments to ensure decisions to treat the relevant special assistance payments as exempt income between 21 February 2025 and the day after this instrument is registered, were lawful.
The amendment is intended to be beneficial to veterans and their families who are in receipt of the special assistance payments and income support payments, as it ensures that special assistance payments are treated as exempt from the income test.
Human rights implications
The Instrument engages and promotes the right to social security contained in article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The right to social security requires that a system be established under domestic law, and that public authorities must take responsibility for the effective administration of the system.
The Instrument is compatible with human rights as it ensures a person’s current resources are appropriately assessed for the purposes of ascertaining the person’s assessable income for means testing purposes under Part IIIB of the Act.
Conclusion
This Instrument is compatible with human rights as it engages and promotes the right to social security by ensuring that rules designed assess pension under the Act are applied flexibly and fairly.
Luke Brown
First Assistant Secretary, Policy and Research Division
A delegate of the Repatriation Commission
Rule-Maker