MRCA Enhancements

The Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA) covers current and former ADF members with service after 30 June 2004. 

It provides treatment, rehabilitation and compensation for service-related injuries, conditions and deaths.

What will happen from 1 July 2026?

From 1 July 2026, DVA will consider claims under an improved MRCA. These improvements include: 

• presumptive liability, and 
• medical event on duty.

Presumptive Liability

The MRCA is also being amended to allow the Commission to specify a list of injuries or diseases that may be accepted on a ‘presumptive’ basis where they are known to have a common connection with military service, without needing to refer to the Statements of Principles (SoPs).

This means, in many cases, veterans will no longer need to provide as much, or any, evidence for a claim to be accepted.

‘Presumptive’ conditions/categories covered under the existing compensation framework will also be carried across to the MRCA, including:

• conditions for ADF firefighters who participated in firefighting training at Royal Australian Air Force Base Point Cook between 1 January 1957 and 31 December 1986;
• cancers prescribed for Australian Defence Force firefighters under subsection 7(8) of the DRCA; 
• specified conditions for F-111 Deseal/Reseal workers at RAAF Base Amberley between 1976 and 1994; 
• conditions covered by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) (Specified Diseases and Employment) Instrument 2017;
• other conditions currently specified under Departmental policy.

Medical Event on Duty

From 1 July 2026 the definition of service injury is being amended to allow for an injury to be accepted on the basis that it occurred while the person was ‘on duty’ as a defence member (such as heart attacks and strokes), regardless of whether or not the injury was caused by the member’s duties. 

Previously, such conditions would have required a ‘causal’ connection to a veteran’s service via the Statements of Principles.

Additional Resources

There is a range of additional resources available on the Legislation Reform website covering a variety of topics. These include: Liability and the Veteran Card.

There are individual pages for different veteran cohorts including VEA veterans, DRCA veterans and family members of veterans.