Amendments to section 80 of the MRCA from 1 July 2026 include additional provisions dealing with the ‘relevant date’ for veterans that were previously covered exclusively under the old VEA and/or the old DRCA.
Delegates are not required to consider the relevant date for this cohort of veterans until the threshold tests discussed in Chapter 5.12.7.3 are met.
Relevant date where there is a new condition accepted under the MRCA
Where a veteran previously covered under the old VEA and/or the old DRCA has an accepted condition resulting from a claim for initial liability under the MRCA after 1 July 2026, the relevant date is worked out the same way as provided in Chapter 5.12.2. That is, the relevant date is the later of:
the date on which the veteran's impairment constituted at least 80 impairment points, or
where a single service-related condition resulted in the veteran reaching 80 impairment points, the date on which the claim for liability was made, or
where more than one service-related condition resulted in the veteran reaching 80 impairment points, the date on which the most recent claim for liability for one of those injuries or diseases was made.
Relevant date where there is not a new condition accepted under the MRCA
Where the veteran does or have a new condition accepted under the MRCA resulting from a new initial liability claim after 1 July 2026, but does satisfy the 5-impairment point worsening from the baseline impairment rating, the relevant date is the later of:
the date on which the veteran’s impairment constituted at least 80 impairment points, or
the date on which the increase in the veteran’s overall impairment constituted at least 5 impairment points.
What if the veteran previously covered exclusively under the old VEA and/or the old DRCA has a new MRCA condition accepted after a claim for compensation resulting in 80 points?
Delegates may encounter instances where this cohort of veterans make a claim for compensation under the MRCA (resulting in 80 impairment points, or more) before they make a claim for new conditions under the MRCA (and they do not meet the 5-point worsening test). Where the 80-impairment point threshold is met due to old VEA and/or old DRCA conditions, the new and subsequent MRCA conditions do not contribute, nor are involved in, the veteran suffering those 80 impairment points. This may appear to frustrate the relevant date provisions in subsection 80(2). The policy intent in this situation is to allow for those subsequent MRCA conditions to be taken to be contributing to the veteran suffering those 80 impairment points. This allows delegates to apply the necessary relevant date considerations.