B35/1993 Legislative amendments Autumn 1993 Sittings - Compensation matters

DATE OF ISSUE: 24 June 1993

Legislative amendments Autumn 1993 Sittings - Compensation matters

This Instruction explains changes to the Veterans'  Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) relating to compensation matters which were approved in the 1993 Parliamentary Sittings.   These amendments received Royal Assent on 9 June 1993.

Cambodia - Extension of Operational Area

2.Schedule 2 of the VEA was amended in 1992 to designate Cambodia as an Operational Area.  This means that service  by a member of the ADF with the UN force in Cambodia will give eligibility for disability pension under Part II of the VEA.  Service in Cambodia is also qualifying service for service pension.

3.Some ADF members of the UN force have been engaged in UN operations across the Cambodian border in Laos and Thailand.  To ensure that any ADF members who cross the Cambodian border will continue to be covered under the VEA, Item 12 of Schedule 2 has been amended to include areas in either Laos or Thailand that are not more than fifty kilometres from the border with Cambodia.  This amendment takes effect from 20 October 1991, the same date that Cambodia was declared an Operational Area.

Former area of  Yugoslavia - designation as an Operational Area

4.Schedule 2 of the VEA has been amended to include a new item, number 13, covering the area comprising the former Yugoslavia.  Section 7A has also been amended to designate service in this area as Qualifying Service for service pension.

5.This amendment provides benefits for the small ADF contingent serving with the UN Peacekeeping Forces in the former Yugoslavia.  The changes are effective from 12 January 1992, the first date on which ADF personnel commenced serving in the area.

Somalia - designation as an Operational Area

6.Another item, number 14, has also been added to Schedule 2 of the VEA to cover service  by members of the ADF with the United Nations in Somalia as part of  Australia's contribution to Operation RESTORE HOPE and the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM).  Section 7A has also been amended to designate service in Somalia with the UN forces as Qualifying Service for service pension.  These amendments are effective from 20 October 1992.

7.These changes will be incorporated in the next edition of the "unofficial reprint" of the VEA.

PETER HAWKER

NATIONAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR

BENEFITS