Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

DEFENCE FORCES RETIREMENT BENEFITS ACT 1948 - SECT 58

             (1)  Subject to subsection (1A), where the wife of a member who is a contributor or of a male pensioner is dead or divorced and the member or pensioner dies leaving children of himself or of his wife who are eligible children and who were dependent upon him at the time of his death, pension payable under this Act in respect of each child shall be a pension at the rate of $5,000 per annum, as indexed in accordance with subsection 84C(2), and an additional pension at a rate equal to one‑eighth of the rate at which pension payable under paragraph 55(1)(a), or pension payable under paragraph 57(1)(a), or under subsection 57(3), as the case may be, would, but for her death or divorce, have been payable to the widow.

          (1A)  Where the number of children in respect of whom pensions are payable under subsection (1) because of the death of the member or pensioner is such that the sum of the rates of all the pensions so payable exceeds a rate equal to 1  of the rate at which pension payable under paragraph 55(1)(a) or 57(1)(a), or subsection 57(3), as the case requires, would, but for her death or divorce, have been payable to the widow, then, while that position exists, there is payable in respect of each of the children, instead of the pensions described in subsection (1), a pension at the rate calculated by dividing the number of children into the rate exceeded.

          (1B)  In the application of subsection (1) in relation to a deceased male pensioner who remarried after he became a pensioner, the reference in that subsection to the wife of a pensioner shall be read as not including a reference to the person who became the wife of the pensioner on that remarriage.

             (2)  Where the present value, as determined by the Authority, of a pension or pensions payable, on the death of a member, in pursuance of subsection (1), is less than the contributions made by him, the amount of the difference shall be paid by the Commonwealth to the personal representatives of the member or, failing them, to such persons (if any) as the Authority determines.

             (3)  A person is not to be treated as a pensioner for the purposes of this section merely because the person, at the time of his or her death, was receiving associate pension under Part VIA.