Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests and British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Treatment) (Extension of Eligibility) Instrument 2017

 

Instrument 2017 No. R31

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Repatriation Commission, under subsection 5(3D) of the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests and British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Treatment) Act 2006 makes the following instrument.

 

 

 

Dated this 3rd day of November 2017

 

The Seal of the                                                                )

Repatriation Commission                                               )  SEAL

was affixed hereto in the                                                 )

presence of:                                                                     )

 

 

 

 

 

      E Cosson                                              C Orme                                                  MA Kelly

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....

 ELIZABETH COSSON                                     CRAIG ORME                                  Major General Mark Kelly

           AM CSC                                                      DSC AM CSC                                                              AO DSC

 ACTING PRESIDENT                                 DEPUTY PRESIDENT                                            COMMISSIONER

 

 

 

 

 

 

1         Name

 

This instrument is the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests and British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Treatment) (Extension of Eligibility) Instrument 2017.

 

 

2         Commencement

 

This instrument is taken to have commenced on 1 July 2017.

 

 

3         Authority

 

This instrument is made under subsection 5(3D) of the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests and British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Treatment) Act 2006.

 

 

4         Interpretation

 

In this instrument:

 

Act means the Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests and British Commonwealth Occupation Force (Treatment) Act 2006.

 

Act of Grace Scheme means the scheme, now closed, that was established in 1989 and administered jointly by the Attorney-General’s Department and the former Department of Primary Industries and Energy to provide compensation to common law claimants affected by the British nuclear tests who commenced proceedings against the Commonwealth in the period from 1988 to 4 September 1989.

 

Administering Authority means the Department of Employment or such other Commonwealth government agency or department as may from time to time be responsible for administering the Administrative Scheme for the Purposes of Compensating Persons Present at British Nuclear Test Sites in Australia.

 

Administrative Scheme for the Purposes of Compensating Persons Present at British Nuclear Test Sites in Australia means the scheme established in 1986 in response to the 1985 Report of the Royal Commission into British nuclear tests in Australia and administered by the Department of Employment to provide compensation to Aborigines, graziers and other civilians affected by the British nuclear tests.

 

Special Administrative Scheme means the scheme, now closed, that was established in 1989 and administered by the former Department of Primary Industries and Energy to provide compensation to eligible test participants involved in the British nuclear tests who suffered from leukaemia or multiple myeloma, or to their dependants in the case of participants who died from such diseases.

 

 

5         Specified requirements – persons entitled under non-statutory compensation schemes

 

(1)           For subsection 5(3C) of the Act, a person is a nuclear test participant if the person –

(a)  has received compensation under the Act of Grace Scheme; or

(b) has received compensation under the Special Administrative Scheme; or

(c) has received compensation, or has been assessed by the Administering Authority as eligible to receive compensation, under the Administrative Scheme for the Purposes of Compensating Persons Present at British Nuclear Test Sites in Australia –

in respect of the person’s known or likely exposure to radiation from the British nuclear tests.

 

(2)           To avoid doubt, a person is not a nuclear test participant under subsection (1) if the person received compensation only by virtue of being a dependant of a person who died as a result of a condition caused by exposure to radiation from the British nuclear tests.

 

 

6         Specified requirements – persons entitled under statutory compensation schemes

 

(1)      For subsection 5(3C) of the Act, a person is a nuclear test participant if:

(a)         the person has received compensation under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 or under a workers’ compensation law of the Commonwealth or a State or Territory; and

(b)         the compensation related to a condition caused by exposure to radiation from the British nuclear tests; and

(c)         the person was, at the time of the exposure, an Australian resident.

 

Note: Commonwealth workers’ compensation laws in force from the time of the British nuclear tests include the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and its antecedents, the Commonwealth Employees’ Compensation Act 1930 and the Compensation (Commonwealth Government Employees) Act 1971. State workers’ compensation laws in force from the time of the British Nuclear tests include the Workers’ Compensation Act 1912 (WA).

 

(2)      To avoid doubt, a person is not a nuclear test participant under subsection (1) if the person received compensation only by virtue of being a dependant of a person who died as a result of a condition caused by exposure to radiation from the British nuclear tests.

 

 

7         Specified requirements – ADF members who served in Japan before the British Commonwealth Occupation Force

 

For subsection 5(3C) of the Act, a person is a nuclear test participant if the person was a member of the Australian Defence Force who served in Japan at any time during the period from the beginning of 16 August 1945 to the end of 30 January 1946.