The end date of operational service, together with the date of injury or disease (which is collected in another question), is used by the Liability Module to establish whether the member is considered to be an employee under the SRC Act for the purposes of s 5(10), (10A), (10B) and (10C).
These subsections of the SRC Act are in the following form:
5(10)Subject to subsections (10A), (10B) and (10C), this Act does not apply in relation to service of a member of the Defence Force in respect of which provision for the payment of pension is made by:
(a)the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986; or
(b)the Papua New Guinea (Members of the Forces Benefits) Act 1957.
5(10A)Subsection (10) does not apply in relation to a veteran:
(a)who has rendered operational service on or after the day on which the Military Compensation Act 1994 commences; and
(b)for whom provision for the payment of pension in respect of service rendered by the person is made by Part II of the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986.
5(10B)Subsection (10) does not apply in relation to a member of the Defence Force who has rendered service in respect of which provision for the payment of pension is made by Part IV of the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986.
5(10C)Despite subsection (10), this Act applies to a claim lodged before the commencement of this subsection for compensation in respect of an injury of a member of the Defence Force that arose out of, or in the course of, any service that:
(a)the member rendered before 13 May 1997; but
(b)only became on that day service in respect of which provision for the payment of pension is made by the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (because of the amendments made to that Act by Part 1 or 8 of Schedule 1 to the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendments (Budget and Compensation Measures) Act 1997.
In broad terms, the effect of these subsections is that a member with operational service that ended before 7 April 1994 is not entitled to compensation under the SRC and is instead compensated under the VEA. Where their operational service continued on or after 7 April 1994 (the commencing date of the Military Compensation Scheme), a dual entitlement under the SRC Act and the VEA arises.