Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025 (17 of 2025)
Schedule 1 Single ongoing Act main amendments
Part 2 Opening MRCA to pre-2004 conditions
Division 2 Classifying pre-2004 operations
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004
60 After section 6
Insert:
6A Meanings of peacekeeping service and Peacekeeping Force
(1) Peacekeeping service means service rendered by a person with a Peacekeeping Force outside Australia, and includes:
(a) any period after the person's appointment or allocation to the Peacekeeping Force during which the person was travelling outside Australia for the purpose of joining the Peacekeeping Force; and
(b) any period (not exceeding 28 days) of authorised travel by the person outside Australia after the person has ceased to serve with the Peacekeeping Force.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1):
(a) a person who has travelled from a place in Australia to a place outside Australia is taken to have commenced to travel outside Australia when the person departed from the last port of call in Australia; and
(b) a person who has travelled to Australia from a place outside Australia is taken to have been travelling outside Australia until the person arrived at the first port of call in Australia.
(3) A Peacekeeping Force described in column 1 of an item of the following table is a Peacekeeping Force for the purposes of this Act on and from the initial date specified in column 2 of the item.
|
Peacekeeping Forces |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Item |
Column 1
Description of Peacekeeping Force |
Column 2
Initial date as a Peacekeeping Force |
|
1 |
Security Council Commission of Investigation on the Balkans |
29 January 1947 |
|
2 |
Committee of Good Offices |
25 August 1947 |
|
3 |
United Nations Special Commission on the Balkans |
26 November 1947 |
|
4 |
United Nations Commission on Korea |
1 January 1949 |
|
5 |
United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan |
1 January 1949 |
|
6 |
United Nations Commission for Indonesia |
28 January 1949 |
|
7 |
United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation |
1 June 1956 |
|
8 |
United Nations Operations in the Congo |
1 August 1960 |
|
9 |
United Nations Yemen Observation Mission |
1 January 1963 |
|
10 |
United Nations Force in Cyprus |
14 May 1964 |
|
11 |
United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Mission |
20 September 1965 |
|
12 |
United Nations Disengagement Observer Force |
1 January 1974 |
|
13 |
United Nations Emergency Force Two |
1 July 1976 |
|
14 |
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon |
23 March 1978 |
|
15 |
Commonwealth Monitoring Force in Zimbabwe |
24 December 1979 |
|
16 |
Sinai Multinational Force and Observers established by the Protocol between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel dated 3 August 1981 |
18 February 1982 |
|
17 |
United Nations Iran/Iraq Military Observer Group |
11 August 1988 |
|
18 |
United Nations Border Relief Operation in Cambodia |
1 February 1989 |
|
19 |
United Nations Transition Assistance Group Namibia |
18 February 1989 |
|
20 |
United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Mission des Nations Unies pour un Referendum au Sahara Occidental) |
27 June 1991 |
|
21 |
The Australian Police Contingent of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia |
18 May 1992 |
|
22 |
The Australian Police Contingent of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique |
27 March 1994 |
|
23 |
Australian Defence Support to a Pacific Peacekeeping Force for a Bougainville Peace Conference |
21 September 1994 |
|
24 |
The Australian Police Contingent of the Multi-National Force in Haiti |
10 October 1994 |
|
25 |
The Australian Police Contingent of the United Nations Mission in East Timor |
21 June 1999 |
|
26 |
The Australian Police Contingent of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor |
25 October 1999 |
|
27 |
The Australian Police Contingent of the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor |
20 May 2002 |
|
28 |
The Australian Police Contingent of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands |
24 July 2003 |
|
29 |
The Australian Police Contingent of the United Nations Mission in Sudan |
1 January 2006 |
6B British nuclear test defence service
(1) A person has rendered British nuclear test defence service if, while the person was a member of the Defence Force, the person rendered service in an area mentioned in an item of the following table during the period mentioned in the item.
|
British nuclear test defence service in an area within a period |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Item |
Area |
Period |
|
1 |
The area within 10 kilometres of Main Beach on Trimouille Island in the Monte Bello Archipelago |
The period: (a) starting at the start of 3 October 1952; and (b) ending at the end of 19 June 1958 |
|
2 |
The area within 25 kilometres of the Totem test sites at Emu Field |
The period: (a) starting at the start of 15 October 1953; and (b) ending at the end of 25 October 1955 |
|
3 |
The area within 40 kilometres of any of the Buffalo or Antler test sites near Maralinga |
The period: (a) starting at the start of 27 September 1956; and (b) ending at the end of 30 April 1965 |
(2) A person has rendered British nuclear test defence service if, while the person was a member of the Defence Force:
(a) the person was involved in the transport, recovery, maintenance or cleaning of a vessel, vehicle, aircraft or equipment at any time during a period mentioned in an item of the following table; and
(b) the vessel, vehicle, aircraft or equipment was contaminated as a result of its use in the area mentioned in the item.
|
British nuclear test defence service relating to work on contaminated things |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Item |
Period in which involvement occurred |
Area where thing was contaminated |
|
1 |
The period: (a) starting at the start of 3 October 1952; and (b) ending at the end of 19 July 1956 |
The area within 10 kilometres of Main Beach on Trimouille Island in the Monte Bello Archipelago |
|
2 |
The period: (a) starting at the start of 15 October 1953; and (b) ending at the end of 25 November 1953 |
The area within 25 kilometres of the Totem test sites at Emu Field |
|
3 |
The period: (a) starting at the start of 27 September 1956; and (b) ending at the end of 30 May 1963 |
The area within 40 kilometres of any of the Buffalo or Antler test sites near Maralinga |
(3) A person has rendered British nuclear test defence service if, while the person was a member of the Defence Force and at a time between the start of 3 October 1952 and the end of 31 October 1957, the person flew in an aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force or the Royal Air Force that was at that time:
(a) used in measuring fallout from nuclear tests conducted in an area described in the table in subsection (1); and
(b) contaminated by the fallout.
(4) A person has rendered British nuclear test defence service if:
(a) the service was rendered while the person was a member of the Defence Force; and
(b) the person satisfies the requirements specified in an instrument under subsection (5).
(5) The Commission may, by legislative instrument, specify requirements for the purposes of subsection (4).
6C Hazardous service
Hazardous service is service with the Defence Force, before 1 July 2004, that is of a kind determined by the Defence Minister, by legislative instrument, to be hazardous service for the purposes of this section.
Part 3 - Other interpretation provisions