This Bill proposes to amend the Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924 to 1949, in a number of respects, the principal amendment being that which proposes to increase the present rates of pensions as from the 1st January, 1953. Section 2 of the Bill deals with this matter, and it will be seen that the section sets out a scale of increases relative to the amount of a pension. I should explain that this scale of increases follows the lines of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1950, which provided for increases in the superannuation of State pensions generally and which, accordingly, the Government regarded as also being appropriate to military service pensions.
That, as I have said, is the principal provision of the Bill but it also contains a number of other important ones to which I may refer briefly. The first of these is in Section 3 which provides, in effect, that members of the permanent force serving on the 1st January, 1953 and in possession of military service certificates, may have military service pensions paid to them currently, instead of having to await retirement.
The present position in this regard, I should explain, is that a member of the permanent force does not receive his military service pension until he retires or is discharged and his pension is based on the rank then held by him, or held on the 1st September, 1924, whichever rank is the higher. The option now provided will enable the members of the permanent force concerned—there are about 100 of them— to decide for themselves whether they will now take pensions based on their current ranks or await retirement or discharge and take the pensions to which they would be entitled under the Act of 1924.
Section 4 also relates to the exercise of an option. In accordance with the general principle governing superannuation, two pensions cannot be paid in respect of the same period of time, and, accordingly, where persons had periods of service which could be reckoned either for the purposes of military service pensions or for the purposes of superannuation, they were allowed, under the Acts of 1924 and 1934, to surrender their military service pensions and to receive enhanced superannuation or they could retain their military service pensions, in which event, service for superannuation purposes was appropriately reduced. Actually, only a small number of persons, of whom, I understand, only about 12 are still living, surrendered their military service pensions. The increased rates of military service pension, and the removal of abatement to which I will refer later, may result in some people wishing to change their original option, and Section 4 will enable them to do so.
Section 5 is intended to adjust the position of a few persons who, having been notionally discharged as noncommissioned officers, without any actual break in service, for the purpose of being appointed to commissioned rank, found themselves, owing to the wording of the Act of 1924, awarded pensions based on their non-commissioned rank and are still in receipt of these pensions, although they eventually retired in commissioned ranks which would have made their pensions much higher. Section 5 proposes that these pensions should be revoked and that the persons concerned should be awarded pensions on the same basis as officers generally.
Section 6 provides for the extension of the date for the receipt of petitions under the Act of 1949 from persons who were refused military service certificates. I propose also to make regulations which will give persons who have not already applied for military service certificates a fresh opportunity of doing so.
Section 7 relates to a matter which has always been a cause of great dissatisfaction—that is, the abatement of military service pensions in respect of remuneration, pensions or allowances payable out of public moneys or by a local authority. Under Section 7, this abatement will be discontinued as from the 1st January, 1953, and the section also provides that, except in certain specified cases, a military service pension will not affect, to the detriment of the pensioner, qualification for, or the receipt or amount of, other payments.
I think I have now explained all the provisions of the Bill, and when I state that the cost of the various proposals amounts to approximately £250,000 a year, I am sure that Senators will appreciate that, in the present conditions of financial stringency, the Government have done everything that could reasonably be expected, to meet the claims that have been made from time to time with regard to military service pensions and the conditions governing them.