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Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
The Act allows the government to require members of the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) to serve in a defined area of the South‑West Pacific during the present war (see preamble and section 4).
The South‑West Pacific Zone is defined by longitude and the Equator: west boundary 110° East, north boundary the Equator, and east boundary 159° East (section 3).
The specific parts of that Zone where CMF members may be required to serve are set by proclamation; the government may make regulations under the Defence Act 1903–1941 and the National Security Act 1939–1940 to cover those members’ service in that area (section 4).
The Act starts when it receives Royal Assent (section 2) and remains in force until six months after Australia ceases to be engaged in hostilities in the present war (section 5).
Affected parties: members of the Citizen Military Forces (CMF). The Act creates a legal power to require those members to serve in the specified parts of the South‑West Pacific Zone (section 4).
Who decides: the government decides which parts of the Zone are subject to required service by issuing a proclamation, and may make regulations under the referenced Defence and National Security Acts to govern that service (section 4). The timing and end of the Act’s operation depend on when Australia is no longer engaged in hostilities (section 5).
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Direct links to the current provisions in Defence (Citizen Military Forces) Act 1943.
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View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
The Act does not itself set pay, allowances, compensation, or detailed service terms; instead it makes explicit that existing regulation‑making powers under the Defence Act 1903–1941 and the National Security Act 1939–1940 extend to CMF members required to serve in the proclaimed parts of the Zone (section 4).
The geographic scope is concrete and mapped by meridians and the Equator (section 3). The spatial application within that Zone is determined by proclamation (section 4). The temporal scope is tied to the state of hostilities and continues for six months after hostilities cease (section 5).
Duty and compliance burden: CMF members may be legally required to serve in the proclaimed area; that requirement is the Act’s core effect (section 4).
Discretion and rule‑making: the Act gives the executive power to specify locations by proclamation and to extend or apply regulations to such service (section 4). That creates administrative discretion over where and how the requirement is applied.
Opportunity cost and private activity: by authorising compulsory service in the Zone, affected CMF members will be obliged to serve and thus will be removed from their ordinary private activities for the period of service. The Act itself does not set out arrangements for pay, private contracts, or business impacts (sections 4 and 5).
Temporal uncertainty: the Act’s duration is conditional on the cessation of hostilities in the present war and ends six months after that event (section 5). The Act does not define the moment of “ceasing to be engaged in hostilities”; that timing may therefore be administratively or politically determined (section 5).
Dependence on other legislation: the operational detail of service (discipline, conditions, administration) is left to regulations made under the Defence Act and the National Security Act, which the Act expressly extends to CMF members required to serve in the proclaimed area (section 4).