The Committee makes the following recommendations.
CHAPTER 12: WORLD WAR II ISSUES
1 There should be no change to the statutory test of qualifying service for veterans of the Australian armed services or Australian mariners serving in World War II. The Committee notes, however, that the ‘incurred danger’ element of the test has been interpreted too narrowly, in that it does not take sufficient account of a credible risk of harm.
2 The Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) should be amended to deem the following service during World War II as qualifying service during the period of hostilities:
- Northern Australia
- north of latitude 14.5 degrees south and islands and waters contiguous to this area, including the Torres Strait Islands, for any period between 7 December 1941 and 7 September 1944 inclusive.
- Outside Australia
- any area other than the West Pacific area — 3 September 1939 to 5 May 1945;
- West Pacific area (except Papua and New Guinea and New Britain before 7 December 1941) — 3 September 1939 to 15 August 1945 — bounded by:
- in the west, longitude 90 degrees east;
- in the east, longitude 165 degrees east;
- in the south, latitude 10 degrees south, including Papua and New Guinea; and
- in the north, by and including the eastern regions of the Asian continent;
- Papua and New Guinea, including New Britain — 7 December 1941 to 15 August 1945; and
- in an aircraft engaged in operations against hostile forces or in patrols or reconnaissance over land occupied by hostile forces of the enemy in one of the areas above at the times prescribed above.
3 Service during the period of hostilities of World War II that is not deemed to be qualifying service under the VEA should be regarded as being qualifying service only if it meets the statutory test.
4 No change be made to the current provisions in relation to qualifying service after the cessation of hostilities in World War II.
5 Service in Australia north of latitude 14.5 degrees south and islands and waters contiguous to this area, including the Torres Strait Islands, for any period between 7 December 1941 and 7 September 1944 inclusive should be regarded as operational service under the VEA. Operational service should also include service immediately before or after that period of service, as currently applies under s.6A of the VEA for service outside Australia.
6 Where a veteran of the Australian armed services or an Australian mariner has qualifying service in World War II, that veteran or mariner should also be regarded as having operational service.
7 Operational service should also include service immediately before or after that period of service, as currently applies under s.6A of the VEA for veterans with service outside Australia and s.6B of the VEA for Australian mariners with service outside Australia.
CHAPTER 14: POST-WORLD WAR II ISSUES
Korea
8 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA for HMAS Vengeance in 1954.
9 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA for service in Kure, Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Forces Korea.
10 No extension of access to the VEA should be made for service in Korea after 19 April 1956 that was outside the demilitarised zone.
Malayan Emergency 1948–60
11 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA for RAAF service in Singapore during the period of the Malayan Emergency from 29 June 1950 to and including 31 August 1957.
RAN Service with the Far East Strategic Reserve 1955–71
12 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA in relation to RAN service in the Far East Strategic Reserve.
Malay–Thai Border 1962–66
13 The aircrew of No 2 Squadron should be retrospectively allotted for service on the Malay–Thai border, with entitlement to qualifying service and other benefits under the VEA.
14 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA for service in the area of Malaya or Singapore outside the Malay–Thai border region between the end of the Malayan Emergency and 27 May 1963.
Indonesian Confrontation 1962–68
15 Operational and qualifying service should be extended for service on or after 16 September 1963 to and including 16 August 1964 for all defence personnel on the posted strength of units located in the operational area of Malaysia.
16 The Department of Defence should review the nature of service of 76 Squadron in Darwin during Confrontation in September 1964.
17 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for service by HMAS Diamantina or HMAS Moresby during Confrontation.
18 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for service in Papua New Guinea during Confrontation.
North–East Thailand including Ubon 1962–68
19 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for RAAF service at Ubon for the period 31 May 1962 to 24 June 1965.
20 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for service on Exercise Ramasoon in Thailand in 1968.
South Vietnam 1962–73
21 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for visits by HMAS Vampire and HMAS Quickmatch to South Vietnam in the period 25–29 January 1962.
22 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for the refuelling of ships by HMAS Supply whilst on Exercise Sea Serpent in Vietnamese waters on 3 May 1963.
23 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for service rendered by RAN personnel in United States Navy ships in South Vietnam waters before Australia’s commitment of forces to the Vietnam conflict on 31 July 1962.
Service in South-East Asia following the End of the Indonesian Confrontation
24 No change should be made in the VEA eligibility provisions for service in 4RAR or 8RAR in Malaysia after the end of Confrontation.
25 No further action should be taken in respect of peacetime service at Butterworth after the cessation of Confrontation and with ANZUK after the cessation of Confrontation.
Reclassifying Peacekeeping Service as Warlike
26 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for peacekeeping service.
27 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for service with the United Nations Military Observer Group India Pakistan.
28 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA for police involved in peacekeeping service.
Reclassifying Specific Hazardous Service as Warlike
29 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions of the VEA relating to service providing humanitarian relief to the Kurds as part of Operation Habitat in 1991.
Establishing Access to the VEA for Specific Peacetime Service
30 Service on submarines during special operations is not warlike service for the purposes of the VEA.
31 Service on submarines during special operations should be deemed non-warlike hazardous for the purposes of the VEA.Service on submarines in peacetime should not be covered under the VEA.
32 The Department of Defence should further review the activities of personnel undertaking covert intelligence gathering, or involved in covert signals operations, to determine their operational status for benefits under the VEA.
33 Service during which personnel are injured or killed as a result of major peacetime accidents is not warlike or non-warlike hazardous service under the VEA.
34 The Department of Defence should review the activities of defence service personnel who located, cleared and disposed of enemy wartime ordnance in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific islands, with a view to making a determination on such activities as non-warlike hazardous service.
35 Service by ADF improvised explosive device disposal (IEDD) personnel in IEDD incidents should be deemed non-warlike hazardous service under the VEA.
36 Service by improvised explosive device disposal (IEDD) personnel in IEDD incidents should be declared warlike or non-warlike in conjunction with other Defence Force elements conducting counter-terrorist operations.
37 Service with the United Nations Mine Clearance Training Team in Pakistan before 8 June 1991 should not be deemed non-warlike hazardous service under the VEA.
38 The Department of Defence should further review service with HMAS Mermaid and HMAS Paluma in East Timor during 2000.
39 No change should be made to the to the treatment of service with HMAS Supply during the French nuclear tests in the Pacific in 1973.
40 Service in Australia after World War II in logistical support of an overseas operation should not, of itself, be considered warlike or non-warlike hazardous service.
41 Service by members of the RAAF directly involved in the Berlin Airlift should be deemed non-warlike hazardous service under the VEA.
Providing VEA Coverage for All Peacetime Service
42 There should be no extension of current VEA coverage for peacetime defence service.
CHAPTER 15: BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OCCUPATION FORCE (JAPAN)
43 Service with BCOF should be declared warlike from 21 February 1946 to 30 June 1947.
44 Service with BCOF should be declared non-warlike from 1 July 1947 to 30 June 1951, inclusive.
CHAPTER 16: BRITISH ATOMIC TESTS
45 Participation by Australian defence force personnel in the British atomic tests should be declared non-warlike hazardous and the legislation should be amended to ensure that this declaration can have effect in extending VEA coverage.
46 The Government should move quickly to finalise the cancer and mortality study.
CHAPTER 17: COUNTER-TERRORIST AND SPECIAL RECOVERY OPERATIONS
47 Special Air Service Regiment training should not be declared non-warlike or hazardous service.
48 Geographical limitations should be excluded so that the Minister can declare ADF operations, including counter-terrorist operations, in or outside Australia as warlike or non-warlike where they meet the relevant criteria.
CHAPTER 18: PRISONERS OF WAR
49 An ex-gratia payment should not be extended to surviving POWs (E) and interned civilians held captive by the German–Italian forces during World War II or to the surviving widow/ers of those who have died.
50 An ex-gratia payment should be extended to all surviving POWs (K) held captive by the North Korean forces during the Korean War and to the surviving widow/ers of those who have died.
CHAPTER 19: WAR WIDOW/ER’S PENSION ELIGIBILITY
51 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA to provide a war widow’s pension to the widows of all veterans, regardless of whether the veteran’s death is related to eligible service.
52 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA to automatically grant the war widow’s pension to all widows of veterans eligible for the intermediate rate at the time of the veteran’s death.
53 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA to extinguish the right to claim the war widow’s pension after marriage to another person subsequent to the veteran’s death.
54 The VEA should be amended so that those war widows who enter into a marriage-like relationship after a veteran’s death will be treated, in regard to the right to claim the war widow’s pension, in the same way as those who marry or remarry after a veteran’s death.
55 No change should be made to the eligibility provisions under the VEA to enable the war widow’s pension to be made available to former wives and former husbands of veterans.
56 Existing provisions of the VEA that preclude the payment of two war widow’s pensions where a person is twice widowed should be retained.
CHAPTER 20: CIVILIANS
57 Access of civilians to veterans’ benefits under the VEA should continue to be based on the principle that provides eligibility only for those who were attached to the Australian armed services and who consequently came under military command of the Australian armed services. Therefore, VEA entitlements should not be extended to members of the Australian Women’s Land Army, the Civil Constructional Corps, the civilian surgical and medical teams in Vietnam, merchant mariners on MV Jeparit or MV Boonaroo in Vietnam waters, entertainers in Vietnam, or QANTAS aircrew who flew in and out of Saigon.
58 Further investigation should be undertaken into the status of official entertainers in Vietnam.
CHAPTER 21: BRITISH, COMMONWEALTH AND ALLIED VETERANS
59 There should be no blanket extension of VEA compensation and health care benefits to all British, Commonwealth and allied (BCAL) veterans and allied mariners.
60 The VEA should be amended to enable a BCAL veteran to be able to establish a domicile of choice in Australia before the age of 21 years, with all other common law tests used in determining domicile continuing to apply.
61 The VEA should be amended to allow British and other Commonwealth veterans whose only service was within their country of enlistment to be considered as having qualifying service if they meet the same requirements that apply for service outside the country of enlistment.
62 The VEA should continue to exclude the provision of qualifying service benefits for service in BCAL forces in wars or warlike conflicts in which the Australian armed forces were not engaged.
63 The VEA should be amended to allow British and other Commonwealth veterans who served in the operational area of Malaya and/or Singapore between 1 September 1957 and 31 July 1960 to be regarded as having rendered qualifying service if their service was the same as that of veterans of the Australian armed services in that operational area during that period.
64 The VEA should be amended to remove the campaign medal requirement for BCAL mariners, with qualifying service being subject only to whether the mariner was detained by the enemy or incurred danger from hostile forces of the enemy during the period of hostilities in World War II.
65 If the Government accepts the Committee’s recommendation to accord warlike and qualifying service to veterans of the Australian armed services serving in Japan with BCOF between 21 February 1946 and 30 June 1947, British and other Commonwealth veterans serving with BCOF in Japan during that period and United States veterans performing a similar peace enforcement role should also be regarded as having rendered qualifying service.
CHAPTER 22: GOLD CARD
66 The Repatriation Health Card — For All Conditions (Gold Card) should not be provided to veterans purely as recognition of service in the Australian armed services.
67 The Gold Card should not be extended to further categories of World War II veterans of the Australian armed services; however, should the Government accept the Committee’s recommendations in relation to qualifying service for World War II service, veterans of the Australian armed services so gaining qualifying service should be entitled to the Gold Card.
68 The Gold Card should not be extended to all veterans of the Australian armed services for service with BCOF in Japan; however, should the Government accept the Committee’s recommendations in relation to the classification of certain BCOF service as warlike, veterans of the Australian armed services with this service prior to 1 July 1947 should be entitled to the Gold Card.
69 The Gold Card should not be extended to further categories of post-World War II veterans without qualifying service.
70 The VEA should be amended so that there will be no further grants of the Gold Card to post-World War II veterans of the Australian armed services at age 70 on the basis of their having rendered qualifying service, unless the veteran satisfies some measure of financial need.
71 The Gold Card should not be extended to all widows of veterans: the VEA should continue to provide the Gold Card only to widows eligible for a war or defence widow’s pension.
72 The VEA should be amended to enable assistance with private health insurance to be provided for the dependent children of veterans entitled to the special rate disability pension who transfer to the proposed new disability pension structure, or of veterans entitled to the extreme disablement adjustment, through the provision of a tax-free health care allowance, indexed to the Consumer Price Index, if the family takes out private health insurance.
73 The Government should examine the needs of war widows and others caring for severely disabled adult orphans of veterans and the adequacy of existing support systems to meet those needs.
74 The Gold Card should not be extended to all British, Commonwealth and allied veterans and mariners with or without qualifying service.
75 Access to the Gold Card should not be extended to civilians who do not qualify as veterans under existing provisions of the VEA.
CHAPTER 30: DISABILITY COMPENSATION ARRANGEMENTS AND A NEW STRUCTURE
A New Disability Compensation Structure
76 The Government should accept that the principles of disability compensation on which the Committee’s proposed disability compensation structure is based are sound and appropriate for Australia’s disabled veterans.
77 Following this acceptance, the Government should adopt and implement the proposed structure as soon as practicable, given its beneficial nature for veterans and their families.
78 The Government should adopt the proposed transitional arrangements.
79 As enhancements to the new structure, the Government should consider how additional assistance can be provided to veterans who experience difficulties in maintaining housing equity and to children of veterans who wish to undertake tertiary education.
Disability Pension to be Disregarded as Income
80 The Government should no longer regard the VEA disability pension, paid under either the current or proposed structure, as income for any VEA or social security income support payments or benefits.
Other Matters
War Widows
81 The legislation should be amended to ensure that the current non-indexed component of the war widow’s pension will no longer be separately identified and that it will be indexed in the same way as the main benefit.
82 An extended bereavement payment should be made available to the widow of a veteran in receipt of special rate disability pension at the time of the veteran’s death.
83 Rent assistance should be provided in addition to the existing war widow’s pension and income support supplement.
84 War widows living overseas should be able to claim the income support supplement.
Extreme Disablement Adjustment
85 The extreme disablement adjustment (EDA) should not be included in the proposed disability compensation structure.
86 All veterans 65 years of age and over at the date of introduction of the new structure should retain the right to claim EDA.
87 All existing EDA veterans should retain their current entitlements.
88 All veterans in receipt of EDA now and in the future should have access to a Goods and Services Tax (GST) rebate on motor vehicles and parts.
89 EDA veterans should receive a private health insurance subsidy if they have dependent children and choose to take out private health insurance.
Extremely Disabled Veterans
90 A veteran who is aged under 65 years at the date of introduction of the new structure and who, after reaching that age, is assessed under the Guide to the Assessment of Rates of Veterans’ Pensions as having 70 disability points and a lifestyle rating of six, should not be granted EDA but instead should receive a benefit package including:
- disability pension at 100 per cent of the general rate;
- access to a GST rebate on motor vehicles and parts;
- a fortnightly means-tested home care allowance of $150 while living in his own home;
- a private health insurance subsidy if he has dependent children and chooses to take out private health insurance; and
- the Repatriation Health Card — For All Conditions (Gold Card).
Funeral Benefit
91 The maximum funeral benefit should be increased to $1000.
Eligibility for Disability Compensation under both the VEA
and theSRCA
92 The Government should require of a veteran with a dual entitlement under the VEA and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRCA) a one-time election, which would restrict the veteran to receiving benefits under either the VEA or the SRCA at that time and in the future, if he has not already made a claim under either Act.
CHAPTER 31: REHABILITATION
Key Recommendations
Principles
93 The major principles of repatriation rehabilitation should be:
- The aim of rehabilitation is to restore veterans to their optimal level of function commensurate with their service-related disabilities in order to provide them with better quality of life, maximised vocational outcomes and reduced dependency on financial disability compensation.
- Veterans’ participation in rehabilitation assessments and, where appropriate, rehabilitation programs, is an integral, obligatory part of the disability compensation provided under the repatriation system.
- DVA has a responsibility to provide suitable and comprehensive rehabilitation to veterans who require it as a result of service-related disabilities.
Rehabilitation Program
94 DVA, as a matter of priority, should provide the resources to establish a suitable program of rehabilitation within a policy framework for the assessment of rehabilitation needs and the coordinated delivery of medical, social and vocational rehabilitation to veterans with service-related disabilities.
95 DVA should pursue its efforts to provide rehabilitation services to veterans and promote them to veterans and DVA staff with the same vigour that it applies to educating the veteran community and DVA staff about the other elements of disability compensation.
Policy Framework
96 The development of a policy framework should follow an investigation of best practice in rehabilitation. Experts in rehabilitation medicine (e.g. Fellows of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine) should be used in this process.
97 The rehabilitation policy framework should focus on:
- the principles of repatriation rehabilitation articulated above;
- factors within the Department of Defence that affect veterans’ rehabilitation;
- early rehabilitation in conjunction with the disability payment assessment process;
- the role of experts in rehabilitation in the compensation assessment and rehabilitation processes;
- addressing the range of younger and older veterans’ service-related mental and physical disabilities likely to require rehabilitation;
- coordination among providers of rehabilitation services, particularly for veterans with complex and chronic conditions;
- incentives for rehabilitation;
- evaluation strategies for rehabilitation programs;
- the obligations of veterans to participate in rehabilitation;
- the appeal rights of veterans in the assessment and rehabilitation processes;
- the frequency of reviews of individual veterans’ rehabilitation programs; and
- the promotion of rehabilitation.
Recommendations for Implementation
General Arrangements for New and Existing Beneficiaries
98 The recommendations regarding rehabilitation should be implemented in concert with the Committee’s recommendations for a new disability compensation structure.
99 The recommendations, with the exception of those in the following section, ‘Arrangements for Rehabilitation — Proposed Disability Compensation Structure’, should apply to all veterans whether or not they transfer to the new disability compensation structure.
Arrangements for Rehabilitation — Proposed Disability Compensation Structure
100 Should the Government implement the disability pensions structure recommended by the Committee, the following complementary rehabilitation arrangements should be implemented at the same time for the veterans who will receive payments under that system. These arrangements, described below, should be consistent with the other recommendations regarding rehabilitation.
101 Continued payment of the economic loss component of disability compensation payments should be subject to participation in rehabilitation. This requirement is based on the assumption that suitable rehabilitation assessments and services will be available.
102 Safety net arrangements should provide full payment of benefits during periods of rehabilitation. The desirability of specifying a period for which safety net arrangements should be provided should be investigated by DVA.
103 Veterans undertaking rehabilitation under the proposed disability payments structure should continue to receive payment for non-economic loss, together with a rehabilitation allowance to meet their economic needs. The rehabilitation allowance should be the same as, and in lieu of, the economic loss compensation.
104 While the rehabilitation allowance is paid, rehabilitation needs should be professionally assessed. Further, a rehabilitation plan should be developed that will help the veteran to recover from, improve, minimise or cope with the accepted disabilities. This action should not be required before the assessment of the veteran’s eligibility for disability compensation. However, the assessment and rehabilitation should occur quickly, to be of greatest benefit to the veteran.
105 The rehabilitation program, agreed with the veteran, should be reviewed as necessary. DVA should use experts in rehabilitation medicine to establish appropriate guidelines.
Staged Implementation
106 To best manage the introduction of a rehabilitation regime, priority should be given to veterans who are identified by appropriate experts as having service-related disabilities causing the greatest need for rehabilitation and who are also the most likely to derive significant benefits from rehabilitation. It appears to the Committee that veterans already receiving disability compensation for accepted mental health conditions would be a priority group.
Supplementary Recommendations
107 The Government should consider the implementation suggestions provided by the Committee in the sections, ‘The Adequacy of the Current Arrangements’ and ‘The Way Ahead’, in Chapter 31 of this Report.
108 The Vietnam Veterans Counselling Service should be a part of the compulsory rehabilitation system.
109 DVA should give the Vietnam Veterans Counselling Service a more inclusive name, such as the Veterans’ Counselling Service.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2003