{"id":"C1973A00002","name":"Repatriation Act 1973","slug":"repatriation-act-1973","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"2 of 1973","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":2522,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1973A00002-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-29","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Repatriation Act 1973","content":"Repatriation Act 1973\n\nNo. 2 of 1973\n\nAN ACT\n\nTo amend the Repatriation Act 1920–1972 so as to provide for Increases in the Rates of certain Pensions payable to certain persons, and for other Repatriation purposes, and to appropriate the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purpose of certain payments resulting from those amendments.\n\n\\[Assented to 16 March 1973\\]\n\nBE IT ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title and citation.\n\n1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Repatriation Act 1973.\n\n(2) The Repatriation Act 1920–1972 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.\n\n(3) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the Repatriation Act 1920–1973.\n\nCommencement.\n\n2. Subject to section 24, this Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n\n  \n\nInterpretation.\n\n3. Section 6 of the Principal Act is amended by omitting subsection (2).\n\nInterpretation.\n\n4. (1) Section 23 of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting from sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph (b) of the definition of “Child” the words “but is under the age of twenty-one years”;\n\n(b) by adding at the end of the definition of “Child”, after paragraph (b), the words “and includes such a child who is an ex-nuptial child of the member”;\n\n(c) by omitting paragraphs (c) and (d) of the definition of “Dependant” and substituting the following paragraph:—\n\n“(c) a child of the member:”;\n\n(d) by inserting after the definition of “Dependant” the following definition:—\n\n“‘Dependent female’, in relation to a member of the Forces, means a woman who—\n\n(a) is, or was at the time of the member’s death, living with the member as his wife on a permanent and bona fide domestic basis, although not legally married to him;\n\n(b) has, at any time, so lived with him for a continuous period of not less than three years; and\n\n(c) is, or was at the time of the death of the member, wholly or partly dependent on him;”;\n\n(e) by omitting the definition of “Member of a family” and substituting the following definition:—\n\n“‘Member of a family’ means wife, father, mother, adoptive father, adoptive mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, step-mother, foster-mother, son (including an adopted son and an ex-nuptial son), daughter (including an adopted daughter and an ex-nuptial daughter), grandson, granddaughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, step-brother, step-sister, adoptive brother, adoptive sister or mother-in-law;”;\n\n(f) by omitting from the definition of “Pension” the words “Second, Fifth and Sixth”;\n\n(g) by inserting after the definition of “The present war” the following definition:—\n\n“‘Unmarried member of the Forces’ does not include a member with respect to whom a dependent female is receiving a pension;”; and\n\n  \n\n(h) by adding at the end thereof the following definitions:—\n\n“‘Widow’ includes a dependent female of a deceased member;\n\n‘Wife’ includes a dependent female of a living member.”.\n\n(2) The amendment made by paragraph (g) of sub-section (1) does not affect a pension that was being paid immediately before the commencement of this section and. that pension continues to be payable as if that amendment had not been made.\n\n5. (1) Section 24a of the Principal. Act is repealed and the following section substituted:—\n\nProsecution of claim of a deceased claimant.\n\n“24a. On the death of a claimant for payment of a pension in accordance with this Division or, if the death occurred before the commencement of this section, on the commencement of this section, the legal personal representative of the claimant or, if there is no legal personal representative of the claimant, a person approved by the Commission as the representative of the claimant may, for the purpose of procuring payment of pension, or payment of pension at a higher rate, in respect of a period before the death of the claimant, take such action as the claimant could have taken after the commencement of this section if he had not died and, for that purpose, shall be treated as if he were the claimant.”.\n\n(2) Proceedings taken by virtue of the section repealed by sub-section (1) that were pending immediately before the commencement of this section may be continued as if that section had not been repealed.\n\nPensions to dependants.\n\n6. Section 35a. of the Principal Act is amended by omitting from paragraph (a) of sub-section (2) the words “or ex-nuptial child”.\n\nInterpretation.\n\n7. Section 83 of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting the definition of “Child” in sub-section (1) and substituting the following definitions:—\n\n“‘Child’, in relation to a member of the Forces, includes a person—\n\n(a) who is a foster-son, foster-daughter or ward of the member; and\n\n(b) who—\n\n(i) in the case of a person who has not attained, the age of sixteen years—is in the custody, care and control of the member; or\n\n(ii) in any other case—is wholly or substantially dependent on the member;\n\n  \n\n‘Dependent, female’, in relation to a member of the Forces, means a woman who has lived with the member as his wife on a permanent and bona fide domestic basis, although not legally married to him, for not less than three years immediately preceding the operation of any provision of this Division in relation to that woman or that member;”;\n\n(b) by omitting paragraph (d) of the definition of “income” in subsection (1) and substituting the following paragraph:—\n\n“(d) a payment, under Part V, VI, VII, VIIa or VIII of the Social Services Act 1947–1973;”;\n\n(c) by adding at the end of sub-section (i) the following definition:—\n\n“‘Wife’ includes a dependent female”; and\n\n(d) by inserting in paragraph (c) of sub-section (3), after the words “other than”, the words “a child who has attained the age of sixteen years or\n\nPension is respect of a member permanently unemployable, &c.\n\n8. Section 85 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting after sub-section (2) the following sub-section:—\n\n“(2a) A woman is not entitled to receive at the same time a service pension under this section by reason that she is a member of the Forces and a service pension under this section by reason that she is the wife of a member of the Forces.”.\n\nRestrictions as to dual pensions.\n\n9. (1.) Section 86 of the Principal Act is amended by omitting subsection (1) and substituting the following sub-section:—\n\n“(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Division—\n\n(a) a person is not entitled to receive at the same time—\n\n(i) a service pension under one section of this Division and a service pension under another section of this Division; or\n\n(ii) a service pension and a pension under Part III or Part IV of the Social Services Act 1947–1973; and\n\n(b) a widow who is in receipt of a war pension in respect of her husband’s death or a child who is in. receipt of a war pension in respect of his father’s death is not entitled to receive a service pension under section 94 at the same time.”.\n\n(2) Where a. service pension that was being paid immediately before the commencement of this section would, but for this sub-section, cease to be payable by virtue of the amendment made by sub-section (1), that pension continues to be payable as if that amendment had not been made, font, unless that pension is payable by reason that the pensioner is suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, the rate of that pension shall not, at any\n\n  \ntime, exceed the rate at which that pension was being paid immediately before the day on which the Social Services Act 1973 received the Royal Assent.\n\nExtension of application of Act to certain male members of the Forces.\n\n10. Section 99 of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by inserting in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1a), after the word “wife”, the words “,as defined in sub-section (1) of section 83,”;\n\n(b) by omitting sub-paragraphs (iii) and (iiia) of paragraph (b) of sub-section (2) and substituting the following sub-paragraph:—\n\n“(iii) a child, of a member of the Forces;”; and\n\n(c) by omitting sub-section (3).\n\nInterpretation.\n\n11. Section 100 of the Principal Act is amended by omitting the definitions of “step-son” and “step-daughter”.\n\nExtension of application of Act to members of Women’s Services.\n\n12. Section 104 of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting from sub-section (1) the words “, ‘step-son’ and ‘step-daughter’ “; and\n\n(b) by omitting sub-paragraphs (ii) and. (iia) of paragraph (b) of sub-section (2) and substituting the following sub-paragraph:—\n\n“(ii) a child of a member of the Forces; and”.\n\nInterpretation.\n\n13. Section 105 of the Principal Act is amended by omitting the definitions of “child”, “step-son” and “step-daughter”,\n\nExtension of application of Act to certain male members of the Forces.\n\n14. Section 107a of the Principal Act is amended.—\n\n(a) by inserting in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1a), after the word “wife”, the words “,as defined by sub-section (1) of section 83,”;\n\n(b) by omitting sub-paragraphs (iii) and (iiia) of paragraph (b) of sub-section (2) and substituting the following sub-paragraph:—\n\n“(iii) a child of a member of the Forces;”; and\n\n(c) by omitting sub-section (3).\n\nInterpretation.\n\n15. Section 107b of the Principal Act is amended by omitting the definitions of “step-son” and “step-daughter”.\n\nExtension of application of Act to members of Women’s Services.\n\n16. Section 107e of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting from sub-section (1) the words “, ‘step-son’ and ‘step-daughter’ ”;\n\n(b) by omitting sub-paragraphs (ii) and (iia) of paragraph (b) of sub-section (2) and substituting the following sub-paragraph:—\n\n“(ii) a child of a member of the Forces; and”; and\n\n(c) by omitting sub-section (3).\n\n  \n\nInterpretation.\n\n17. Section 107f of the Principal Act is amended by omitting the definitions of “step-son” and “step-daughter”.\n\nInterpretation.\n\n18. Section 108 of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by inserting in. sub-section (1), after the definition, of “medical treatment”, the following definition:—\n\n“‘spouse’ includes—\n\n(a) in relation to a deceased member of the Forces—a person who is a dependent female, as defined in section 23, of that member; or\n\n(b) in relation to a living member of the Forces— a person who is a dependent female, as defined in section 23 or 83, of that member;”; and\n\n(b) by adding at the end of sub-section (1) the following definitions:—\n\n“‘widow’, in relation to a deceased member of the Forces, includes a person who is a dependent female, as defined in. section 23, of that member;\n\n‘wife’, in relation to a living member of the Forces, includes a person who is a dependent female, as defined in section 23 or 83, of that member.”.\n\n19. After section 120b of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:—\n\nPayment of pension, &c., on death of pensioner, &c.\n\n“120c. Where an amount of pension, allowance or other benefit under this Act or the regulations—\n\n(a) has accrued and is unpaid on the death of the person to whom that pension, allowance or other benefit is payable; or\n\n(b) would have been payable to a deceased claimant in. respect of a period before his death if the claimant had not died,\n\nthe Commission may pay that amount to—\n\n(c) the legal personal representative of the deceased person; or\n\n(d) if there is no legal personal, representative of the deceased person, and the Commission is satisfied that application will not be made for probate of the will, or for letters of administration of the estate, of the deceased person—the person whom the Commission determines to be best entitled to receive it,\n\nand, if that amount, is paid, the Commonwealth is not liable to any action, claim or demand for any further payment in respect of that amount”.\n\n  \n\nFirst Schedule.\n\n20. (1) The First Schedule to the Principal Act is amended by omitting the scale and substituting the following scale:—\n\n| Column 1                                                                                                         | Column 2                                             | Column 3                                    | Column 4                                      |\n| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |\n| Rank, or Rating of the Member                                                                                    | Pension payable so Widowed Mother on Death of Member | Pension payable to Widow on Death of Member | Pension payable to Member on Total Incapacity |\n|                                                                                                                  | $                                                    | $                                           | $                                             |\n|                                                                                                                  | per fortnight                                        | per fortnight                               | per fortnight                                 |\n| All ranks and ratings below Leading Seaman, Corporal end relative ranks and ratings                              | 9.00                                                 | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| Leading Seaman, Corporal and relative ranks and ratings                                                          | 10.00                                                | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| Petty Officer, Sergeant and relative ranks and ratings.                                                          | 10.30                                                | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| Chief Petty Officer, Staff Sergeant, Flight Sergeant and relative ranks and ratings                              | 10.55                                                | 43.00                                       | 32 00                                         |\n| Warrant Officer and relative ranks.............                                                                  | 11.35                                                | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| All Commissioned ranks below Lieutenant (Navy), Captain (Army), Flight Lieutenant (Air Force) and relative ranks | 11.80                                                | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| Lieutenant (Navy), Captain (Army), Flight Lieutenant (Air Force) and relative ranks                              | 12.80                                                | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| Lieutenant-Commander, Major, Squadron Leader and relative ranks                                                  | 13.90                                                | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel, Wing Commander and relative ranks                                                 | 15.10                                                | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| Captain (Navy), Colonel, Group Captain and relative ranks                                                        | 16.30                                                | 43.00                                       | 32.00                                         |\n| All ranks higher than Captain (Navy), Colonel, Group Captain and relative ranks                                  | 16.60                                                | 43.10                                       | 32.00                                         |\n\n(2) The First Schedule to the Principal Act is amended by omitting from paragraph 6 the words “Sixty-eight dollars” and substituting the words “Seventy-three dollars ten cents”.\n\nSecond Schedule.\n\n21. The Second Schedule to the Principal Act is amended by omitting the words—\n\n“Rate for Special Pensions—Ninety-six Dollars per Fortnight.”;\n\nand substituting the words—\n\n“Rate for Special Pensions—One hundred and two Dollars Twenty Cents per Fortnight.”.\n\nThird Schedule.\n\n22. The Third Schedule to the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting from Table A the words “(including an ex-nuptial child)”; and\n\n(b) by omitting from Table B the words “(including an ex-nuptial child)”.\n\n  \n\nFifth Schedule.\n\n23. The Fifth Schedule to the Principal Act is amended by omitting the table in. paragraph 1 and substituting the following table:—\n\n| Column 1                                                           | Column 2      | Column. 3     |\n| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------- | ------------- |\n| Description of Disability                                          | Amount        | Allowance     |\n|                                                                    | $             | $             |\n|                                                                    | per fortnight | per fortnight |\n| Two arms amputated.................................                | 70.20         | 35.00         |\n| Two legs and one arm amputated.........................            | 70.20         | 21.00         |\n| Two legs amputated above the knee.......................           | 70.20         | 21.00         |\n| Two legs amputated and loss of eye........................         | 70.20         | ..            |\n| One leg and one arm amputated and one eye destroyed...........     | 70.20         | ..            |\n| One leg and one arm amputated..........................            | 70.20         | ..            |\n| One leg amputated above, and one leg amputated below, the knee.... | 23.50         | ..            |\n| Two legs amputated below the knee.......................           | 15.80         | ..            |\n| One arm amputated and one eye destroyed...................         | 13.70         | ..            |\n| One leg amputated and one eye destroyed....................        | 13.70         | ..            |\n| One leg amputated above the knee........................           | 6.80          | ..            |\n| One leg amputated below the knee........................           | 3.60          | ..            |\n| One arm amputated above the elbow.......................           | 6.80          | ..            |\n| One arm amputated below the elbow.......................           | 3.60          | ..            |\n| Loss of vision in one eye...............................           | 5.30          | ..            |\n\nApplication of certain amendments.\n\n24. The amendments made by sections 20, 21 and 23—\n\n(a) shall be deemed to have come into operation on the seventh day of December, 1972; and\n\n(b) apply in relation to an instalment of a pension falling due on that date and to all subsequent instalments.\n\nAppropriation.\n\n25. (1) The Consolidated Revenue Fund is appropriated to the extent necessary for the purposes of such expenditure in pursuance of the Principal Act as amended by this Act as results from this Act, being expenditure on or before the thirtieth day of June, 1973.\n\n(2) Sub-section (1) does not prevent the issue and application of moneys, for the purposes referred to in that sub-section, in. pursuance of an appropriation made by an Act other than this Act (whether passed before or after the commencement of this Act).","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This amending Act stays firmly within the original purpose of the Repatriation Act 1920 — providing pensions and support to veterans and their dependants. It does not introduce any new subject matter or regulatory regime. The changes are incremental: pension rates are updated, eligibility definitions are modernised (notably to include de facto partners and ex-nuptial children), and procedural gaps around deceased claimants are filled. These are refinements and expansions within the same policy domain, not a departure from the original legislative intent."},"complexity_factors":["Amends a complex pre-existing Act (the Repatriation Act 1920–1972) by reference, requiring the reader to cross-reference the Principal Act throughout","Multiple layered definitions of 'dependent female', 'child', 'widow', and 'wife' that vary depending on which section of the Principal Act applies (e.g. section 23 vs section 83 definitions)","Saving provisions create conditional carve-outs for pension recipients who were already being paid before the amendments (sections 4(2), 9(2))","Retrospective commencement clause for the pension rate increases (section 24 deems those amendments to have commenced on 7 December 1972)","Cross-references to another Act (Social Services Act 1947–1973) for the dual-pension restriction rules","Procedural complexity around deceased claimants — distinguishing between legal personal representatives and Commission-approved representatives, and preserving pending proceedings under the repealed section (section 5(2))","Two separate appropriation mechanisms acknowledged in section 25(2)"],"plain_english_summary":"This amendment to the Repatriation Act 1920 raises fortnightly pension rates (backdated to December 1972) and widens who counts as a veteran’s family for benefits. It formally includes de facto partners who lived with and were financially dependent on a veteran, clarifies ex‑nuptial and foster children as eligible, and allows estates to pursue pending claims.\n\nIt affects veterans, serving members, widows, dependants and children, broadening support beyond formal marriage and increasing Commonwealth payments to those eligible."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 24 and Section 2","severity":"high","reasoning":"An Act that receives Royal Assent on 16 March 1973 cannot, as a matter of physical and legal reality, have 'come into operation' on 7 December 1972. While retrospective legislation is legally permissible in Australia, the Act's own commencement clause (s.2) establishes the Act begins on Royal Assent, and then s.24 contradicts this by deeming substantive provisions operative 15 weeks earlier. This creates internal incoherence: the Act claims two different commencement dates simultaneously. Parliament can enact retrospective laws, but it should do so explicitly in the commencement clause rather than creating a structural contradiction between s.2 and s.24.","confidence":0.85,"description":"Section 2 states the Act commences on Royal Assent (16 March 1973), but Section 24 deems the amendments in sections 20, 21, and 23 to have come into operation on 7 December 1972 — over three months before the Act even existed. The Act purports to create legal obligations and entitlements retroactively from a date predating its own existence."},{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 5(1) — new s.24a","severity":"low","reasoning":"The provision creates a legal fiction that the representative IS the claimant, while simultaneously acknowledging the claimant is dead. The representative exercises rights defined by what the dead claimant 'could have taken if he had not died' — a counterfactual that is defined by reference to the representative's own fictional status as the claimant. While legal fictions are routine in legislation, this one chases its own tail: the scope of the representative's powers is defined by the powers of someone who is both dead and notionally alive for the purposes of the section.","confidence":0.6,"description":"The substituted section 24a allows a legal personal representative to take action 'on the commencement of this section' if the claimant died before commencement, and permits the representative to take action 'as the claimant could have taken after the commencement of this section if he had not died' — but then directs that the representative 'shall be treated as if he were the claimant.' This creates a logical circularity: the representative is fictionally treated as the claimant (a dead person) for the purpose of exercising rights the claimant could have exercised if alive."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 4(1)(g) — definition of 'Unmarried member of the Forces'","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Marital or relationship status is ordinarily a stable factual circumstance. Defining 'unmarried member' by reference to whether a pension is being actively paid to a dependent female creates an absurd situation where the member's legal status under the Act fluctuates with payment cycles. If a payment is delayed, missed, or suspended administratively, the member could oscillate between being 'unmarried' and 'not unmarried' within the same fortnight. This is particularly problematic given s.4(2) grandfathers existing pensions, suggesting the drafter recognised instability in this definition but did not fully resolve it.","confidence":0.75,"description":"The definition of 'Unmarried member of the Forces' states it 'does not include a member with respect to whom a dependent female is receiving a pension.' This means a person's marital status classification under the Act is determined not by their personal circumstances but by whether a third party is currently receiving a payment — a classification that could change from fortnight to fortnight depending on pension payment administration."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 20(1) — First Schedule pension scale","severity":"low","reasoning":"The widow's pension column is uniformly $43.00 across all ranks except the highest, which receives $43.10. Given the 'Widowed Mother' column varies substantially by rank (nearly doubling from bottom to top), the near-uniformity of the widow's pension — with a single 10-cent anomaly at the top rank — appears to be either a drafting error or a deliberate but poorly explained policy choice. It is not logically absurd in an impossible-compliance sense, but the single 10-cent deviation from an otherwise flat rate is a notable curiosity that creates minor interpretive uncertainty.","confidence":0.65,"description":"In the pension scale, 'All ranks higher than Captain (Navy), Colonel, Group Captain' receive a widow's pension of $43.10 per fortnight, while ALL lower ranks receive $43.00. The pension for widows is therefore marginally higher for the highest-ranked members — by 10 cents per fortnight — despite the scale for widowed mothers varying significantly by rank (from $9.00 to $16.60). This creates an internal structural inconsistency in the schedule."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 9(2)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The word 'font' is clearly a corruption of 'but' (consistent with OCR or transcription error from the original text). However, in the enrolled Act, if this corruption exists in the operative text, it creates genuine ambiguity: does 'font' introduce a condition (as 'but' would), or does it interrupt the sentence in a legally material way? A court would likely read it as 'but' by reference to context, but the ambiguity is real. This affects the grandfathering provision for existing service pensions, which is a substantive entitlement.","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 9(2) contains what appears to be a typographical corruption: the word 'font,' appears mid-sentence ('...as if that amendment had not been made, font, unless that pension is payable...'). This renders a significant savings/grandfathering provision grammatically incoherent, as 'font' is not a conjunction or connective word and the sentence cannot be parsed with legal certainty."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 2 (Commencement)","section_b":"Section 24 (Application of certain amendments)","confidence":0.85,"description":"Section 2 provides that the Act comes into operation on the day of Royal Assent (16 March 1973). Section 24 deems the amendments in sections 20, 21 and 23 to have come into operation on 7 December 1972. These two provisions cannot both be true: the Act cannot have both commenced on 16 March 1973 (s.2) and had operative provisions on 7 December 1972 (s.24). The contradiction is between the general commencement rule and the specific retrospective deemed commencement."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 4(1)(h) — definition of 'Wife' (includes dependent female of a living member)","section_b":"Section 7(c) — definition of 'Wife' in s.83 (includes dependent female)","confidence":0.8,"description":"Section 4 amends s.23 of the Principal Act to define 'Wife' as including a dependent female of a living member, using the s.23 definition of 'dependent female' (which requires cohabitation for a continuous period of not less than three years at any time). Section 7 amends s.83 to include 'Wife' as including a dependent female, but the s.83 definition of 'dependent female' requires three years of cohabitation immediately preceding the operation of any provision of that Division — a stricter and temporally different test. These two definitions of 'dependent female' produce different outcomes for the same woman depending on which Part of the Act applies, with no clear reconciliation mechanism."},{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 4(1)(d) — 'Dependent female' definition in s.23","section_b":"Section 7(a) — 'Dependent female' definition in s.83","confidence":0.9,"description":"The s.23 definition of 'dependent female' requires: (a) living with the member as wife on a permanent and bona fide domestic basis; (b) having done so for a continuous period of not less than three years at any time; and (c) being wholly or partly dependent on him. The s.83 definition omits the dependency requirement (c) entirely and instead requires the three years of cohabitation to be 'immediately preceding the operation of any provision of this Division' — rather than at any time. A woman who cohabited for three years but not immediately before the relevant event would qualify under s.23 but not s.83, and a financially independent woman would qualify under s.83 but not s.23. These inconsistent definitions apply to overlapping classes of persons with no priority rule."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"Section 8 — new s.85(2a) (dual pension prohibition for women)","section_b":"Section 9(1) — amended s.86(1) (general dual pension restriction)","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 8 inserts s.85(2a) to specifically prohibit a woman from receiving simultaneously a service pension as a member of the Forces AND as the wife of a member. Section 9 amends s.86(1) to create a general prohibition on receiving two service pensions simultaneously (under different sections of the Division). The specific prohibition in s.85(2a) is therefore entirely subsumed by and redundant to the general prohibition in s.86(1)(a)(i), yet both provisions exist independently. While redundancy is not strictly a contradiction, the existence of the specific provision implies it was intended to cover something the general provision did not — raising the question of whether s.85(2a) was meant to apply in circumstances where s.86 does not, creating interpretive ambiguity about the scope of each."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 4(1)(g) — amended definition of 'Unmarried member of the Forces'","section_b":"Section 4(2) — savings provision for existing pensions","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 4(1)(g) redefines 'Unmarried member of the Forces' to exclude members with respect to whom a dependent female is receiving a pension. Section 4(2) provides that this amendment does not affect a pension that was being paid immediately before commencement, which continues as if the amendment had not been made. This means pre-existing pensions operate under the old definition (which did not exclude such members), while new pensions operate under the new definition — potentially resulting in two members in identical factual circumstances being classified differently (one as 'unmarried', one as 'not unmarried') solely based on the historical timing of their pension, with no substantive policy justification for the distinction."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/repatriation-act-1973","history":"/api/acts/repatriation-act-1973/history","analysis":"/api/acts/repatriation-act-1973/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/repatriation-act-1973/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/repatriation-act-1973/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/repatriation-act-1973/documents"}}