Members deployed on operations such as the Interfet deployment to East Timor or the Afghanistan operations are entitled to Deployment Allowances for the duration of the deployment. In the case of the Interfet deployment, the allowance was $125 per day tax exempt.
The Deployment Allowance is essentially a “disability allowance” and should be treated in the same manner as seagoing allowance, ie. the allowance should be included in NWE for a member whose deployment is curtailed as a result of a compensable injury and subsequently suffers a loss of the allowance. The allowance should be included in NWE only for so long as the allowance would have been paid were it not for the injury. Normally this would be up to the date when the member's unit returns to Australia or when the member's deployment would otherwise have ceased. This component of NWE should be treated as tax exempt.