Commonwealth Numbered Acts

DEFENCE FORCE RE-ORGANIZATION ACT 1975 No. 96 of 1975 - SECT 14

14. (1) Section 17 of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section
substituted:- Resignation of officer.
''17. (1) An officer of the Army may, by writing under his hand addressed to
the Chief of the General Staff, tender the resignation of his military office,
but the resignation shall not be accepted, and is not effective, except as
provided by this section.

''(2) The Chief of the General Staff may, without reference to the
Governor-General, reject the resignation of an officer if-

   (a)  it is tendered in time of war or in time of defence emergency;

   (b)  acceptance of the resignation would, in the opinion of the
        Chief of the General Staff, seriously prejudice the ability
        of the Army to carry out military operations that it is carrying out
        or may be required to carry out; or

   (c)  in the case of an officer-

        (i)    who is engaged in, or who has completed, in whole or in part, a
               course of special training, a period of employment on special
               duties or a period of service outside Australia; or

        (ii)   who was appointed outside Australia or whose transport, or
               whose family's transport, was at the expense of Australia,

the officer has not completed a period of service that, under a determination
of the Chief of the General Staff, and in the circumstances, the officer is
required to complete.

''(3) The Chief of the General Staff-

   (a)  in the case of a resignation by an officer of a rank not higher than
        the rank of colonel that has not been rejected in pursuance of
        sub-section (2)-may accept the resignation or forward the resignation
        to the Minister for submission to the Governor-General; and

   (b)  in the case of a resignation by an officer of a rank higher than the
        rank of colonel that has not been rejected in pursuance of sub-section
        (2)-shall forward the resignation to the Minister for submission to
        the Governor-General.

''(4) Where the Minister considers that the resignation of the officer should
not be accepted unless and until the officer has complied with a condition,
the officer's resignation shall not be submitted to the Governor-General for
acceptance until the officer has complied with that condition.

''(5) The Governor-General may accept, or refuse to accept, the resignation of
an officer.

''(6) Where the Governor-General or the Chief of the General Staff accepts the
resignation of an officer, the resignation becomes effective on the seventh
day after the date on which it is accepted or on such other date as may be
specified in the instrument of acceptance.''.

(2) Where, before the commencement of this section, an officer of the Military
Forces had tendered the resignation of his military office to the
Military Board under section 17 of the Principal Act, but the resignation had
not, before the commencement of this section, been accepted or rejected under
that section, section 17 of the Principal Act as amended by sub-section (1) of
this section applies to and in relation to the resignation as if each
reference in section 17 of the Principal Act as so amended to the Chief of the
General Staff included a reference to the Military Board.

(3) Until a determination is made by the Chief of the General Staff for the
purposes of paragraph 17 (2) (c) of the Principal Act as amended by
sub-section (1) of this section, any determination made by the Military Board
for the purposes of paragraph 17 (2) (c) of the Principal Act, and in force
immediately before the commencement of this section, continues to have effect
as if it were a determination made by the Chief of the General Staff for the
purposes of paragraph 17 (2) (c) of the Principal Act as amended by
sub-section (1) of this section.