REPATRIATION (FAR EAST STRATEGIC RESERVE).

No. 107 of 1964.

An Act to amend the Repatriation (Far East Strategic Reserve) Act 1956-1962.

[Assented to 20th November, 1964.]

BE it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title and citation.

1.—(1.) This Act may be cited as the Repatriation (Far East Strategic Reserve) Act 1964.

(2.) The Repatriation (Far East Strategic Reserve) Act 1956—1962 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.

(3.) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the Repatriation (Far East Strategic Reserve) Act 1956-1964.

Commencement.

2.—(1.) Subject to this section, this Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

(2.) Section five of this Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.

Interpretation.

3. Section three of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by omitting from sub-section (1.) the definition of “Board” and inserting in its stead the following definitions:—

“‘adopted’, in relation to a child, means adopted in accordance with the law of a State, a Territory of the Commonwealth or another country;

‘Board’ means a Repatriation Board constituted under the Repatriation Act;” and

(b) by inserting in sub-section (1.), after the definition of “port”, the following definition:—

“ ‘step-child’, in relation to a member of the Forces, means a step-child of the member, being—

(a) where the member is or was a male person—a child whose father is dead;

(b) where the member is or was a female person—a child whose mother is dead; or

(c) a child the marriage of whose parents has been dissolved and in respect of whom the Commission is satisfied that he or she—

(i) is in the custody, care and control of, or is being maintained by, the member;

(ii) if the member is dead, was in the custody, care and control of, or was being maintained by, the member at the time of the member’s death; or

(iii) if the member, being a male person, is dead, is in the custody, care and control of, or is being maintained by, the member’s widow,

and ‘step-son’ and ‘step-daughter’ have corresponding meanings;”.

Liability of the Commonwealth to pay pensions to members of the Forces.

4. Section six of the Principal Act is amended by omitting paragraph (a) of sub-section (8.) and inserting in its stead the following paragraph:—

“(a) the law of a country other than the Commonwealth that is or has been a part of the dominions of the Crown; or”.

Regulations.

5. Section thirteen of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by inserting after sub-section (1.) the following subsections:—

“(1a.) Subject to sub-section (1c.) of this section, where medical treatment is provided to a person under the regulations—

(a) in circumstances in which the regulations provide for payment in accordance with this sub-section; or

(b) in any case in which, before the treatment is provided, the Commission, for special reasons, determines that payment should be made in accordance with this subsection and notifies the person accordingly,

the person is liable to pay to the Commonwealth, as a debt due to the Commonwealth, such reasonable charges in respect of the treatment as the Commission notifies to him in writing.

“(1b.) Regulations made in pursuance of paragraph (a) of the last preceding sub-section may provide for payment in accordance with that sub-section in any case in which—

(a) a person (whether before, during or after the provision of the treatment) recovers or receives; or

(b) the Commission or a delegate of the Commission (whether before, during or after the provision of the treatment) notifies a person that the person is, in the opinion of the Commission or the delegate, as the case may be, entitled to recover or receive,

the whole or a part of the cost of the treatment, by way of damages or compensation, from another person.

“(1c.) Sub-section (1a.) of this section does not apply in relation to medical treatment in respect of a condition giving rise to an incapacity in respect of which the Commonwealth—

(a) is liable to pay pension under this Act to the person;

(b) would be so liable if the incapacity were great enough to warrant a pension assessment; or

(c) would be so liable but for sub-section (8.) of section six of this Act.”; and

(b) by adding at the end thereof the following sub-section:—

“(3.) In this section, ‘medical treatment’ means any treatment with a view to restoring a person to, or maintaining a person in, physical or mental health or alleviating suffering, and includes—

(a) any accommodation, nursing care or transport in relation to such treatment; and

(b) the supply, renewal and repair of artificial replacements and surgical and other aids and appliances.”.

Validation of grants of assistance or benefits.

6. Where assistance or a benefit granted to a person on or after the first day of September, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven, and before the eleventh day of May, One thousand nine hundred and sixty-three, is of a kind that could validly have been granted to the person on that last-mentioned date under regulations under the Repatriation (Far East Strategic Reserve) Act 1956-1962 in force on that last-mentioned date, then, for the purpose of validating the grant of the assistance or benefit—

(a) those regulations shall be deemed to have been in force on the date on which the grant was made; and

(b) the grant shall be deemed to have been made in accordance with those regulations.