Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC)Schedule 4 - Veterans' Entitlements Act improvements
66 This Schedule amends the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986. Part 1 makes amendments to the Part of the Act dealing with definitions. Part 2 makes technical amendments.
67 Sections 5A to 11B in Part I of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 contain definitions of terms that are used in the Act. Many of those sections define terms relating to particular subjects. For example, sections 5E and 5F contain family relationship definitions, and section 5H contains income test definitions.
68 Currently, locating the definition of a term requires perusing over 25 definition sections, costing the community time and money and potentially causing confusion. These amendments are intended to ensure all the terms relevant to more than one area in the Act will be listed in subsection 5Q(1). Subsection 5Q(1) will contain an entry for each expression defined for the purposes of the Act, and may be used like a dictionary either defining the expression or signposting another provision which defines the expression.
69 There are other terms that are defined only for the purposes of a specific area of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986. Signposts to these definitions will not be included in subsection 5Q(1). For example, definitions of terms that are used only in Part IIIAB of that Act (relating to pension bonus) are listed in section 45TA only, and are not included in subsection 5Q(1).
70 Item 1 inserts a simplified outline as new section 5, to explain how the definitions contained in Part I of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 are structured. While simplified outlines are included to assist readers to understand the substantive provisions, the outlines are not intended to be comprehensive. It is intended that readers should rely on the substantive provisions.
71 Item 2 replaces the current heading of section 5Q "General definitions" with the heading "Dictionary".
72 Item 3 inserts into subsection 5Q(1) signpost definitions of the relevant terms.
73 Part 2 contains minor technical amendments. The amendments insert notes to provide navigational assistance, relocate navigational notes and make their form more consistent with other navigational notes in the Act, insert and improve signpost definitions, fix typographical errors such as incorrect capitalisation, fix formatting errors, fix incorrect numbering of notes and fix incorrect, missing and redundant cross-references. The purpose of each technical amendment is described by the note.