Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Members – War Artists and Entertainers - Service End Date) Amendment Determination 2015

The instrument operates by amendment: it modifies two existing determinations that list persons and acts which amount to “member” status under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004. The main concepts to extract, as stated in the text, are:

• Tying to another instrument: the Determination does not commence independently; s 2 provides it commences when the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee - War Artists and Entertainers) Notice 2015 commences. The Determination therefore depends on the operative date of a separate, named instrument (SRCA Notice 2015).
• Saving and continuity: s 3(1) preserves the status of any person who immediately before commencement is a member under either the 2006 (No.2) or 2007 Determination. Subsections 3(1)(a)-(d) effect a direct carry-over so that those persons “are, on the commencement of this instrument, a member under, respectively … as amended by this instrument.” The saving applies to persons who are members immediately before commencement , the clause is a transitional/continuity mechanism.
• Definition insertion: each amended Determination receives a new s 2A titled “Definitions” which provides a short-hand reference: “SRCA Notice 2015 means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee - War Artists and Entertainers) Notice 2015” (Schedule Part A and Part B, item 1 under “Section 2”).
• Substitution of Schedule 1: both determinations have their Schedule 1 replaced. The new Schedules each contain a single Item (Item 1) that sets out a class of persons and the acts that qualify. The two Items differ in the class and the qualifying time period (Schedule Part A for entertainers, Part B for war artists).
• Temporal delimitation and interpretative note: each Item specifies the qualifying period as running from a stated start date (1 July 2004 for entertainers; 1 February 2007 for war artists) to “the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced.” Each Item concludes with a parenthetical Note invoking subsection 36(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 to the effect that “a period expressed to continue until a specified day - includes that day.” The instrument therefore pays explicit attention to how the end date is to be read under the Acts Interpretation Act, although the Items themselves use the phrase “the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced.” Practitioners must read the end-date language together with the note in each Item.
• Scope of acts: the Items are framed in terms of “acts performed in the provision or support of musical performances and entertainment under the auspices of the Forces Advisory Committee on Entertainment or the Department of Defence” (Part A) and “acts performed in a Defence Force area of operations for the purpose of providing works as commissioned by the Australian War Memorial” (Part B). The instrument therefore defines qualified activity by function (performance/creation/support), by organisational context (contracted by Department of Defence / commissioned by Australian War Memorial), and by location/purpose (performed in a Defence Force area of operations in the war artist context).

Mechanically, the Determination does not itself set entitlements, remedies, or compensation levels; rather it amends membership-delineating instruments that in turn relate to rights and procedures under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004. The Determination is narrowly targeted: it adds definitions and a temporally bounded, descriptive schedule entry for two distinct cohorts.

The instrument names discrete classes of persons and public entities by reference to the amended Schedules. The immediate affected groups, as described in the text, are:

• Persons contracted by the Department of Defence to provide or support musical performances and entertainment, or to provide management and technical support for those performers, where those acts were “performed in the provision or support of musical performances and entertainment under the auspices of the Forces Advisory Committee on Entertainment or the Department of Defence” and the relevant acts were performed during the period 1 July 2004 to the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced (Schedule Part A, Schedule 1, Item 1).
• Persons commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to provide original works in a range of media (including still photography, cinematography, paintings, drawings, and written work) concerning Defence Force operations, where the acts were performed in a Defence Force area of operations for the purpose of providing the commissioned works during the period 1 February 2007 to the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced (Schedule Part B, Schedule 1, Item 1).

The instrument also affects the administrators and instruments it amends:

• The determinations being amended are the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Members) Determination 2006 (No.2) and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Members) Determination 2007 (s 4). Persons whose status is governed by those determinations are therefore affected to the extent the Schedules define membership categories.
• The Department of Defence and the Australian War Memorial are named as contracting or commissioning entities in the Schedules; their past contracting/commissioning decisions therefore determine whether a particular individual falls within the described class. The Force Advisory Committee on Entertainment is named as an auspicing body in the entertainers Item.

Other consequentially affected parties, by implication in the text, include:

• Any person who immediately before the Determination’s commencement was a “member” under either of the specified determinations: s 3(1) explicitly preserves and transfers their membership into the amended determinations.
• Administrators of the MRCA 2004 scheme who implement membership determinations and process claims. While the Determination does not itself describe administrative steps, it changes the formal list of persons who qualify as members, and so will affect decision-making under the MRCA framework by changing the cohort that decision-makers recognise as members.

The instrument therefore targets two historically defined cohorts tied to specific contractual or commissioning relationships with Defence-related agencies and delimits qualifying service by defined start dates and by the SRCA Notice 2015 commencement as the end marker. The commencement linkage means the practical date from which the amendment operates is conditional on another instrument’s commencement, so entities and individuals will need to know when the SRCA Notice 2015 commences to know when this Determination takes effect (s 2).

The Determination is an amendment instrument: it does not itself set out operational duties, penalties, or entitlements beyond designating who is a “member” under the amended determinations. The relevant legal mechanics set the following rights and procedural effects as expressed in the instrument:

• Membership re-designation: s 3(1) operates as a transitional entitlement-preserving mechanism. It ensures that a person who immediately before the commencement of this Determination was a member under either the 2006 (No.2) or 2007 Determination remains a member on commencement, “under, respectively … as amended by this instrument.” That is a direct carry-over of legal status into the amended version of each determination. The duty this imposes on administrators is to treat pre-commencement members as continuing members under the amended text once this Determination commences.
• Definition duties: by inserting a new s 2A definition in each amended determination (Schedule Part A and Part B, item 1 under Section 2), the instrument creates a precise textual reference point within those determinations: “SRCA Notice 2015 means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee - War Artists and Entertainers) Notice 2015.” Decision-makers interpreting the amended schedules must apply that defined term when reading end-date references and the commencement clause (s 2).
• Temporal delimitation of qualifying acts: the substituted Schedule 1 entries operate as substantive delimiters of the acts that qualify a person as a member under each determination. The Items identify the class of persons and the precise activities that, if performed in the described circumstances and within the stated periods, qualify them as members. Administrators have the duty to apply these factual tests (contracted by Defence / commissioned by Australian War Memorial; performed under specified auspices; performed in a Defence Force area of operations; and falling within the specified dates).
• Interpretative note application: each Item includes a Note invoking subsection 36(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as a reminder that “a period expressed to continue until a specified day - includes that day.” While the Items themselves use the phrase “the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced,” the presence of the Acts Interpretation Act note is an instruction about interpreting temporal expressions in the schedules. Decision-makers must read dates in light of that reference.
• Reliance on other instruments: s 2 explicitly ties commencement of this Determination to the commencement of the SRCA Notice 2015. The duty for administrators is to identify the commencement date of the SRCA Notice 2015 to know when the substitution and definition take effect and when the saving provision operates.

Rights flowing from being a “member” are not specified in this instrument. The Determination functions within the wider MRCA 2004 framework , it changes who is listed as a member for the purposes of those overarching entitlements and obligations, but it does not itself set compensatory entitlements, medical obligations, or similar measures. The duties imposed by the instrument are therefore largely administrative and interpretative: apply the new Schedule 1 tests to identify membership; apply the s 3 saving provision to those who were members immediately before commencement; and reference the SRCA Notice 2015 for commencement and end-date calculations.

The instrument contains no express penalty provisions, sanctions, inspection powers, or enforcement mechanisms. Its contents are limited to amendment of text (s 4), a commencement provision tied to another instrument (s 2), and a saving/application clause (s 3). Consequently:

• There are no penalties or enforcement mechanisms in this Determination itself. The instrument does not create offences or regulatory sanctions, nor does it specify enforcement procedures.
• Enforcement, compliance assessment, and any sanctions relevant to membership status will be determined under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 and the determinations it authorises, which this instrument amends. The instrument was made under section 8 of the MRCA 2004 (opening paragraph), but it does not set out how MRCA enforcement works; that will remain in the MRCA and associated instruments outside the text of this Determination.
• Administrators applying the amended determinations have the quasi-enforcement role of determining whether a person meets the schedule criteria and of recognising membership status. For example, a claims decision-maker under the MRCA framework will use the amended Schedule 1 entries to decide whether an applicant falls within a specified class of member. The instrument therefore shifts the substantive eligibility roster to include the described categories and periods, and those administrative determinations may have consequent legal review or dispute avenues, though none are specified in this instrument.

Practical enforcement implications embedded in the text include the need to establish facts: whether an individual was contracted by the Department of Defence (Part A) or commissioned by the Australian War Memorial (Part B), whether the acts were performed under the specified auspices, and whether the acts occurred within the prescribed period terminating at the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced. Evaluating those facts will be the operational task of decision-makers; the Determination imposes no independent enforcement tools but alters the roster of persons whose membership status decision-makers must recognise and act upon under the MRCA framework.

The Determination is explicitly framed in relation to three instruments or statutes, and its text signals specific interpretative interfaces:

• Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004: the instrument is made under section 8 of the MRCA 2004 (opening paragraph). While the Determination does not restate section 8 or other MRCA provisions, its entire purpose is to amend determinations authorised by that Act. The effect of this Determination is therefore to change how the MRCA framework applies to particular classes of persons by altering the determinations that define “member” status under the MRCA.
• Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee - War Artists and Entertainers) Notice 2015: the instrument ties both its commencement and its internal temporal references to this separate notice. Section 2 provides that this Determination “commences when the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee - War Artists and Entertainers) Notice 2015 commences.” Additionally, each substituted Schedule defines the term “SRCA Notice 2015” as that Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Notice (Schedule Part A and Part B, s 2A). The qualifying periods in the Schedule items end at “the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced.” Therefore, the operative timing and the end-date delimitation of the qualifying periods are linked to a separate SRCA instrument.
• Acts Interpretation Act 1901: each new Schedule item contains a note invoking subsection 36(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901: “Note: under subsection 36(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 a period expressed to continue until a specified day - includes that day.” This reference is an interpretative aid within the Determination, instructing how to treat periods expressed in the schedules. The instrument therefore signals that standard interpretative rules under the Acts Interpretation Act apply when construing the temporal limits specified.

Interaction with the existing determinations: the instrument amends the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Members) Determination 2006 (No.2) and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Members) Determination 2007 (s 4). It does this by inserting a new definition provision and substituting Schedule 1 in each. That substitution means the content of Schedule 1 in each determination, as read for MRCA purposes, will be the new Items set out in this Determination. Any other laws that reference those determinations will therefore be indirectly affected because the determinations’ content has changed.

Temporal and administrative interaction risks and requirements embedded in the text include:

• Reliance on another instrument’s commencement: because this Determination commences when the SRCA Notice 2015 commences, there is an operational dependency on a separate instrument to fix the date when these amendments take effect (s 2). Administrators must track the SRCA Notice 2015 commencement to implement this Determination.
• Interpretative cross-references: the note invoking the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 means decision-makers will apply that statute’s rules to read temporal expressions in these schedules. The Determination does not redefine interpretative rules; it explicitly signals reliance on established interpretative law.

No other statutes, regulations, or instruments are cited. The Determination does not purport to amend primary legislation, create offences, or modify other statutory schemes directly. Its interactions are confined to the MRCA 2004 framework, the SRCA Notice 2015, and the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as an interpretative aid.

The instrument itself records the date it was made , 6 December 2015 , and states the legal mechanism used for change. From the text we can extract the following amendment history and mechanics, grounded solely in the Determination:

• Date and maker: the instrument is signed and dated 6 December 2015 by Stuart Robert, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister also administering section 1 of the Defence Act 1903 (opening lines). It is identified as Instrument 2015 No. MRCC 71 and named in s 1 as the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Members - War Artists and Entertainers - Service End Date) Amendment Determination 2015.
• Commencement linkage: s 2 provides that the Determination “commences when the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee - War Artists and Entertainers) Notice 2015 commences.” The Determination therefore defers its own operative date to that of another instrument, rather than specifying an independent commencement date (s 2).
• Saving and application transitional clause: s 3(1) preserves membership status for persons who immediately prior to commencement were members under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Members) Determination 2006 (No.2) or the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Members) Determination 2007, and carries them forward as members under those determinations “as amended by this instrument.” The clause is expressed in four subparagraphs (3(1)(a)-(d)) that map existing member status to membership under the amended instruments on commencement.
• Specific textual amendments: s 4(1) and (2) implement the substantive amendments: they amend the two determinations respectively “in accordance with Part A of the Schedule” and “in accordance with Part B of the Schedule.” The Schedule then provides the exact textual insertions and substitutions.
  • Part A (amendments to the 2006 (No.2) Determination):
    • Inserts a new section 2A Definitions, defining “SRCA Notice 2015” (Schedule Part A, item 1, Section 2).
    • Substitutes Schedule 1 with a single Item describing the class of persons contracted by Defence to provide musical/entertainment-related services, with the qualifying period 1 July 2004 to the day immediately before SRCA Notice 2015 commenced (Schedule Part A, Schedule 1, Item 1).
  • Part B (amendments to the 2007 Determination):
    • Inserts a new section 2A Definitions, defining “SRCA Notice 2015” (Schedule Part B, item 1, Section 2).
    • Substitutes Schedule 1 with a single Item describing persons commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to provide original works concerning Defence Force operations, with the qualifying period 1 February 2007 to the day immediately before SRCA Notice 2015 commenced (Schedule Part B, Schedule 1, Item 1).
• Interpretative annotation: each substituted Schedule item includes a parenthetical note referencing subsection 36(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 about how to read periods expressed to continue until a specified day. This is part of the textual amendment and forms an interpretative note to readers of the substituted schedule entries.

No earlier amendments, revocations, or consolidated amendment chains are recorded in the text of this instrument itself. The instrument does not record or summarise previous amendments to the 2006 (No.2) or 2007 determinations; it only specifies the changes being made by this instrument. Any prior amendment history of those determinations or later amendments to them is not contained in this Determination and would need to be researched in the texts of those instruments and instrument registers.

The Determination contains no references to judicial decisions, tribunal determinations, or litigation. It does not cite cases, appeals, judicial interpretations, or review outcomes. The text is confined to the ministerial amendment mechanism, the saving clause, and the Schedule substitutions.

Consequences of that absence, as evidenced in the instrument:

• There is no built-in record of contest, challenge, or judicial interpretation of the wording of these amendments within the instrument itself. The instrument records only the policy decision to amend the two Member Determinations and the precise textual changes made.
• Because the instrument contains no litigation references, a practitioner seeking to understand judicial treatment of these or related amendments will need to consult court and tribunal databases or decision registries outside the text of this Determination. The Determination itself does not provide any historical or interpretative judicial context.
• The lack of litigation history in the instrument does not indicate whether or how these amendments might be subject to later judicial review or administrative appeals under the MRCA 2004 framework. The instrument’s text does not address dispute resolution, merits review, or judicial review processes; those processes, if engaged, will be governed by MRCA 2004 and other applicable procedural law, none of which is restated here.

In short, the Determination provides no litigation history or case law. It is a statutory amendment instrument whose contents must be read and interpreted against the wider MRCA legislative and regulatory framework and against any subsequent or antecedent judicial decisions which are not recorded in the instrument.

The instrument is compact, but a small number of concrete hazards and points for careful reading arise directly from its text:

• Commencement dependency introduces uncertainty: s 2 ties commencement to the SRCA Notice 2015 commencement. Until that notice’s commencement is known, this Determination does not operate. Practitioners must track the SRCA Notice 2015 commencement to know the exact day this Determination takes effect. That affects when the saving clause and the substituted Schedules become operative.
• End-date language plus interpretative note: both Schedule entries specify qualifying periods that end at “the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced.” Each entry then contains a parenthetical Note referencing s 36(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, which states that a period expressed to continue until a specified day includes that day. The interaction between the phrase “day immediately before” and the Acts Interpretation Act note requires careful textual reading. The Items do not simply say “until the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced”; they say “to the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced,” and then include the Acts Interpretation note. The note is an interpretative prompt, not a substitute for the schedule text. Practitioners must therefore apply the schedule wording as expressed and then apply the Acts Interpretation Act to temporal expressions. Misreading could either under- or over-extend the period of qualifying acts.
• Retrospective temporal scope: the Schedules define qualifying service with historic start dates (1 July 2004 and 1 February 2007) and an end tied to the SRCA Notice 2015 commencement, which will be in the past once that notice commences. The instrument therefore operates to define membership for acts performed in the past. Administrative decision-makers must be prepared to evaluate historic factual circumstances (contracts, commissions, the context and purpose of acts, locations) to determine whether a person falls within the described classes.
• Narrow factual predicates: both Items predicate membership on specific factual relationships and contexts: being “contracted by the Department of Defence” to perform or support musical entertainment (Part A), or “commissioned by the Australian War Memorial” to produce original works concerning Defence Force operations and performing the acts in a Defence Force area of operations (Part B). In practice, proof of contracting/commissioning, proof of the auspice (e.g. Forces Advisory Committee on Entertainment), and proof of the purpose and location of the acts will be necessary to trigger member status under these amended Schedules. Records, contracts, commissioning documentation, orders, and deployment records will therefore be critical.
• Saving clause is limited to pre-commencement members: s 3(1) applies only to persons who were members “immediately before the commencement of this instrument.” If a person performed qualifying acts in the past but was not previously recognised as a “member” under the earlier determinations immediately before this Determination commences, the saving clause will not itself convert them into a member; membership for such persons will depend on application of the amended Schedules after commencement. That distinction matters for those who seek retrospective recognition but who were not previously a member immediately prior to commencement.
• Reliance on other instrument definitions: the inserted s 2A defines “SRCA Notice 2015” inside each amended determination. Until that notice is located and its commencement date confirmed, precise outer-date determinations and operationalisation of the substituted Schedule may be unclear. The Determination makes that external reference essential.
• Limited textual scope: the Determination substitutes complete Schedule 1 entries in both amended instruments but does not amend other provisions of those determinations. If other parts of the 2006 (No.2) or 2007 determinations make cross-references to their Schedules, those cross-references will now point to the substituted single-Item schedules. Practitioners should check the full texts of the affected determinations to identify any downstream interpretative or cross-reference effects, because the Determination does not recapitulate the rest of those documents.

These are concrete interpretative and operational pitfalls arising from the instrument text. None involve extra-textual claims; they all follow from the way the Determination fixes temporal boundaries, ties commencement to a separate instrument, contains a saving clause limited to pre-commencement members, and predicates membership on discrete factual relationships.

Compliance under this Determination is primarily an administrative and evidentiary task: it requires decision-makers and potentially affected individuals or organisations to identify whether the facts fit the textual tests added to Schedule 1 of the relevant determinations. The instrument itself prescribes no procedural steps, but the following actions follow directly from the Determination’s text and are what administrators and affected parties will need to do to give effect to it:

1. Confirm SRCA Notice 2015 commencement

   • The Determination commences when the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee - War Artists and Entertainers) Notice 2015 commences (s 2). Compliance begins by identifying the commencement date of that SRCA Notice. Administrators should obtain and record the commencement date of the SRCA Notice 2015 from the instrument registry or the issuing body. That date determines when the saving clause takes effect and when the substituted Schedules are operative.

2. Identify pre-commencement members for saving clause

   • Section 3 applies only to persons who were members “immediately before the commencement” of this Determination. Administrators should prepare a roster of persons who were recognised as members under the 2006 (No.2) and 2007 determinations immediately prior to the Determination’s commencement. Those persons must be carried over as members under the amended determinations on commencement. Record-keeping should reflect the transfer of status.

3. Establish factual predicates for post-commencement determinations

   • The substituted Schedule 1 entries predicate membership on precise factual relationships:
     • For entertainers (Part A): confirm whether the individual was contracted by the Department of Defence, the nature of the contract (performance, management, technical support), the auspices (Forces Advisory Committee on Entertainment or Department of Defence), and the date(s) of the acts (between 1 July 2004 and the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced).
     • For war artists (Part B): confirm whether the individual was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to provide original works concerning Defence Force operations, whether the acts were performed in a Defence Force area of operations, and whether the acts occurred between 1 February 2007 and the day immediately before the SRCA Notice 2015 commenced.
   • Practitioners should collect and preserve contracts, commissioning letters, purchase orders, deployment records, correspondence from the Australian War Memorial or the Department of Defence, orders establishing auspices, and any contemporaneous documentation that evidences the purpose and location of acts.

4. Apply the Acts Interpretation Act note to temporal questions

   • Each Item includes a note invoking subsection 36(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as an interpretative aid for periods expressed to continue until a specified day. Decision-makers should apply that interpretative rule when construing end dates in instances where that interpretative question arises. Ensure that date calculations and record-keeping apply the Acts Interpretation Act rule where relevant.

5. Record reasoning for membership determinations

   • Because the Determination changes the membership roster with a retrospective component, decision-makers should prepare written determinations that record the factual basis for concluding a person falls within the amended Schedule 1 entry or for declining to so find. The record should address contracting/commissioning, auspices/purpose, location, and dates in relation to the Start Date and the SRCA Notice 2015 linked end date.

6. Communicate status changes to affected persons

   • Where s 3 applies and a person is carried over as a member under the amended determinations on commencement, affected persons should be notified. Similarly, where the amended Schedule 1 criteria lead to recognition after commencement, affected persons should be informed of the decision and the basis for it.

7. Coordinate with the Department of Defence and Australian War Memorial records

   • The textual predicates make the Department of Defence and the Australian War Memorial the source of contracting/commissioning evidence. Administrators and applicants should engage with those organisations to obtain documentary proof. Defence and the Memorial may need to search internal archives to support membership determinations for acts performed in the historical periods specified.

8. Check broader MRCA processes for claims and review

   • While this Determination itself does not set entitlements or dispute-resolution procedures, membership status under the amended determinations will feed into MRCA processes. After establishing membership under the substituted Schedules, administrators and applicants should follow the MRCA 2004 procedural steps for submitting claims, seeking review, or pursuing entitlements. This Determination does not alter MRCA procedural rules; it only defines who is a “member” for those rules’ application.

9. Be alert to narrow scope and limitations

   • The Schedules are narrowly drafted. For persons who seek recognition but do not meet the precise contracting/commissioning or location criteria, the Determination will not create membership. Parties should assess whether they fall within the exact text: being contracted by the Department of Defence versus performing similar work for another employer, or being commissioned by the Australian War Memorial versus producing similar works independently.

These compliance steps flow directly from the instrument’s text: identify commencement, apply the saving clause for existing members, gather documentary evidence of contracting/commissioning, apply the schedule’s temporal limits and the Acts Interpretation Act note, and record decisions. The Determination creates no new bureaucratic paperwork requirements in its text, but it does require administrators to apply specific factual tests and to consult external records to operationalise membership determinations.