DATE OF ISSUE: 08 February 1990
GRANT OF THE TELEPHONE RENTAL CONCESSION TO ALL WORLD WAR I VETERANS - AMENDMENT TO DI B33/89
Background
New Policy Proposals approved by Cabinet for 1989/90 included a Ministerial initiative to grant the Telephone Rental Concession (TRC) to all World War I veterans with a telephone connected in their name where they live.
2.The eligibility conditions in paragraph 3 of the previous DI B33/89 qualified this by requiring membership of the Defence Forces in Australia.
3.The decision to extend the TRC was initiated by the representation of a Commonwealth veteran. This is reflected in the words "All World War I Veterans" which appeared in all the October 1989 publicity releases. These included Ministerial Press Release No. 89/53, newspaper advertisements and letters to those World War I veterans in whose name it could be determined a telephone was connected where they lived.
4.In keeping with the spirit of this proposal the eligibility conditions have been amended to extend the concession to include Commonwealth and allied World War I veterans, and Australian and allied mariners, in addition to members of the Australian Defence Forces.
Eligibility Guidelines
5.To be eligible for the Concession in the future, World War I veterans need only have a telephone connected in their name where they live and satisfy the interpretation criteria for a World War I veteran as laid down in section 5 of the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986, ie, while a member of the Defence Forces of Australia, rendered continuous full-time service during World War I; Commonwealth or allied World War I veterans as laid down in section 35 of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, who have a telephone connected in their name where they live and who served during the Period of Hostilities (a) as defined in section 35 of the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986; and Australian and allied mariners as laid down in section 35 of the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986.
6.The Client Data Base computer system cannot identify those Commonwealth and allied veterans who are World War I veterans so we cannot automatically send out vouchers to this category of veteran. The issue of concession vouchers to these veterans will need to be done manually (on a typewriter) as there is no systems involvement. There is no way to assess the number of veterans in this category and all applications will need to be assessed on their individual merits.
Contact Officers
7.The manager of the project is Bernie Collins who can be contacted on (06) 282 5195 but enquiries on ADP matters should be directed in the first instance to Ric Moor on (06) 282 5491.
PETER HAWKER
NATIONAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR
BENEFITS