The VETS Act (Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025) passed Parliament on 13 February 2025, received Royal Assent on 20 February 2025, and took effect on 1 July 2026.
Currently, Australia has three separate Acts governing veterans' compensation: the VEA (1986), DRCA (1988), and MRCA (2004). This has been confusing for veterans and created inconsistent outcomes.
On 1 July 2026, the system was simplified. All new compensation claims are now lodged under one improved MRCA, regardless of when the veteran served. The VEA and DRCA closed to new compensation claims on that date.
Existing payments continue unaffected. If you currently receive VEA or DRCA payments, these are grandparented — they continue and are indexed as usual.
Income support (Service Pension, ISS, Veteran Payment) remains under the VEA. The changes apply to compensation claims only.
DRCA incapacity payments transitioned automatically to the more generous MRCA system on 1 July 2026.
The review pathway also simplifies: all veterans now use VRB then ART (the single review pathway). DRCA veterans gained access to the VRB from 21 April 2025.
Under the MRCA, permanent impairment is assessed across all of your accepted conditions combined: the minimum for permanent impairment compensation is 10 impairment points in total, or 5 points where the impairment comes from a single accepted condition that is hearing loss, loss or loss of use of a finger or toe, or loss of taste or smell. This combined assessment is a long-standing MRCA rule and was not changed by the 2026 reforms.