Funeral benefit may include an additional payment (reasonable amount) for the reimbursement of the costs of transport of the body to a person who takes a member from the place where they sustained a service-related injury, disease or death to a hospital, other medical facility or mortuary.
The type and amount of compensation available for transport of body is outlined below.
If the death is service related
Under section 297 of the MRCA, reimbursement for reasonable costs for transport of a body is available alongside the higher rate of funeral expenses (8.3.1 Overview of Funeral Benefits).
This includes:
- transporting a veteran’s body from a hospital or other institution or
- transporting a veteran’s body to a mortuary or
- transporting from a place where the veteran died.
Generally, this section should be interpreted liberally. There may be more than one journey involved prior to delivery to an undertaker for the funeral/burial. Delegates should approve payment for any reasonable sequence of moves.
If the death is not service related (includes VEA autogrant)*
Under sections 268AA – 268AE of the MRCA, the VEA autogrant categories of funeral expenses at the lower rate are retained (8.3.1 Overview of Funeral Benefits). Reimbursement for transport of a body is also available.
This includes:
- Where the veteran was in receipt of a disability compensation payment prior to death (EDA, Special rate, specific disability allowance (items 1-8 only);
- The veteran died in indigent circumstances;
AND
- The veteran's death occurred at a place other than their ordinary residence;
- The veteran was away from their ordinary residence for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment as arranged by the Commission.
- A specific charge was made for transporting the body by the funeral director.
Circumstances where the veteran is deemed to be absent from their ordinary residence for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment:
- where the veteran is travelling from his or her ordinary place of residence for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment
- where the veteran is returning to his or her ordinary place of residence after having obtained medical treatment
- where the veteran is being provided with medical treatment at a place other than his or her ordinary place of residence; or
- where the veteran is away from his or her ordinary place of residence on the recommendation of his or her doctor for the purpose of treatment for an injury or disease.
This benefit is also available for Wholly Dependant Partners and Eligible Young Persons if:
- the person died in indigent circumstances, and if
- the death of veteran is service related, or
- the veteran was assessed with 80 + impairment points, or
- the veteran was eligible for the Special Rate Disability Pension (SRDP) at some point, or
- the veteran was eligible for the Additional Disablement Adjustment (ADA)
Exclusions:
This additional transportation of body is not payable (if seeking medical treatment) when:
- the body needs to be moved from one place in the metropolitan area of a capital city to another place in the metropolitan area of that city; or
- the body needs to brought in from outside Australia.
*Please note whilst some VEA auto grants can be service related death, in this instance the entitlement would be the lower rate of funeral expenses and therefore domestic transportation of body only.
Deaths overseas
Since WW2, the bodies of serving ADF members who died whilst serving overseas have been repatriated to Australia by the ADF at the ADF's expense.This is not expected to change.
If an ex-serving member died overseas, please contact the policy team via the Delegate Support Framework.