Eligibility based on service in South East Asia is designed to recognise that members of the Australian Defence Force could be required to undertake operations of a warlike nature in areas where there were incidents of a local sporadic nature rather than continuing operations. Accordingly, eligibility is based on the principle that benefits should stem from a period of service in which the member was exposed to hazards of a warlike nature beyond those of normal peacetime duty and depended upon allotment for duty in a prescribed “operational area”. The Malayan Peninsula, Sabah, Brunei, Sarawak and South Vietnam have been prescribed at various times as “operational areas” for the purposes of the legislation.
A member of a unit of the Defence Force refers to a member of the Defence Force or other person who is:
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a member of the unit;
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attached to the unit; or
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appointed for continuous full-time service with the unit.