For the purposes of RAFS, a farmer held a qualifying interest in a farm [3] if they:
Sharefarmers who did not own real land and did not have a qualifying interest were unable to participate in RAFS.
Farmers who occupied property on a short-term lease rather than a pastoral lease were unable to participate in RAFS because they did not have a qualifying interest in the farm.
A trustee of a trust has a legal interest in the trust's assets. Accordingly, where a farm was owned by a trust and the farmer was the trustee of that trust, he or she had a qualifying interest in the farm. This included situations where the farmer was the trustee of an estate, for example where a widow/widower was trustee of the deceased partner's will.
Shareholders in private trustee companies that owned a farm had a qualifying interest.
According to subsection 5P(1) [4] of the VEA, a farm means any land that is used:
Links
[1] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=node/16197%23comment-form
[2] https://clik.dva.gov.au/service-eligibility-assistant-updates/all-determinations-order-date-signed-oldest-most-recent/determinations-under-vea
[3] https://clik.dva.gov.au/%23
[4] http://clik.dva.gov.au/legislation-library