What it does
This legislative instrument, titled the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation (Pay-related Allowances) Determination 2017, identifies a set of allowances as "pay‑related allowances" for the purposes of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004. The instrument is made under subsection 11(1) of that Act (see s 3 of the instrument). It does not create or authorise payment of any allowance; instead it performs a classificatory function for the statutory scheme established by the Act.
Mechanically, the instrument works through two parallel provisions. Section 6 declares that each "section 58B determination allowance" listed in the table in that provision is to be treated as a pay‑related allowance under the Act, from the start of a specified day and, where a finishing date is specified, until the end of that finishing day. Section 7 does the same for "section 58H determination allowance" items listed in the second table. The instrument defines the terms "section 58B determination allowance" and "section 58H determination allowance" by reference to allowances paid under determinations made under sections 58B and 58H respectively of the Defence Act 1903 (see s 5).
The legal effect is limited and precisely framed: for the purposes of subsection 11(1) of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, the listed allowances are to count as pay‑related allowances, and they do so only for the date ranges expressly specified. Each table entry contains three columns: the item number, the allowance name (column 1), the start date (column 2) and, where present, an end date (column 3). The instrument therefore controls the temporal window during which a named allowance is to be regarded as a pay‑related allowance for the Act (see ss 6 and 7).
Because the instrument is a determination under s 11(1) of the Act, the classification it imposes will be used by decision‑makers applying the Act to decide whether a particular allowance is a pay‑related allowance for the Act’s purposes. The instrument does not itself set rates, eligibility criteria for payment under Defence Act determinations, nor any entitlement amounts under the Act. It is a list and a temporal map: who or what counts as a pay‑related allowance, and when that classification applies (see s 6 and s 7).