This instruction relates only to members of the Air Training Corps, the Australian Cadet Corps and to Naval Reserve Cadets, and not to Officer Cadets or any other classification of full-time member of the ADF bearing 'Cadet' as part of their rank/title.
Cadets are not members of the ADF, they are not employees within the usual sense, and are not included in the Defence Act. However the ADF is responsible for the operation of the single service cadet organisations which have been established under separate legislation, and cadet members are covered by the SRCA by special inclusion via S6A(1). The common title 'school cadet' is a misnomer. Few cadet units are associated with a school in any way, nor are all cadet members currently at school, although most are of school age.
Cadets are not paid for their attendance. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority earn no income – or, at most, only a small part-time income – and they remain dependent upon their parents or guardian. As cadets have not at the date of injury entered the general labour market, they lack clearly identified earning skills there is no basis for establishing NWE. Furthermore, an injured cadet may not ever enter the work-force, perhaps because of the injury but maybe also for other reasons, and the injury may or may not impede his/her ability to develop work skills and experience.
In the face of these variables, the approach to be adopted as a matter of policy is:
- If under the age of 16, any compensation would be purely based on a loss of earnings (cadets are not paid for their attendance but may well hold down a part-time job).
- Once over the age of 16, a cadet may be available to undertake a full-time job, but in most cases will not yet have done so. In the absence of earnings (or at least only small, part-time earnings, insufficient for independent support) it is necessary to deem that a cadet will progress from a full-time ADF recruit to pay group 3 in line with the cadet's age cohort. Once a cadet has progressed to pay group 3, this is their final NWE level and Wage Price Index (WPI) increases thereafter apply. This point assumes that the injured cadet has finished full-time education.