DEFENCE FORCES
PERSONS LIABLE TO SERVE IN ACTIVE CITIZEN MILITARY FORCES WHO WERE NOT ENROLLED IN THOSE FORCES AND WHO HAD EVADED TRAINING: MAY BE COURT-MARTIALLED AS BEING MEMBERS OF MILITARY RESERVE FORCES
DEFENCE ACT 1903, ss. 30. 32A, 59, 102, 135: AUSTRALIAN MILITARY REGULATIONS 1916, reg. 558
I return herewith the opinions of the Judge Advocate General and the Deputy Judge Advocate General dated 28 January 1922, and 25 January 1922, respectively, forwarded with your memorandum of 26 March 1922.
I am unable to agree with the opinions of the Deputy Judge Advocate General that 'a person who has altogether evaded training and has never attended a parade cannot be said to be undergoing training, and consequently would not be a member of the Defence Forces . . . ' and that 'all persons who are liable to training are not members of the Defence Force . . . '
Section 30 of the Defence Act 1903-1918 provides as follows:
30 The Defence Force shall consist of the Naval and Military Forces of the Commonwealth, and shall be divided into two branches called the Permanent Forces and the Citizen Forces.
Section 32A of the Act provides as follows:
32A(1) The Citizen Military Forces shall consist of Active Forces and Reserve Forces.
- The Active Citizen Military Forces shall consist of the Militia Forces, the Volunteer Forces, those undergoing military training under the provisions of paragraph (c) of section one hundred and twenty-five of this Act, and officers on the unattached list.
- The Military Reserve Forces shall consist of Citizen Forces, and shall include the officers shown on the Reserve of Officers List, the members of Rifle Clubs who are allotted to the Military Reserve Forces, and all those liable to serve in time of war under section fifty-nine of this Act who are not included in the Active Forces.
Those liable to serve in time of war under section 59 are all male inhabitants of Australia (excepting those who are exempt from service in the Defence Force) who have resided therein for six months and are British subjects and are between the ages of eighteen and sixty years.
In my opinion, if a person who is liable to serve in the Active Citizen Military Forces is not enrolled in those Forces, he is covered by section 59 and is a member of the Military Reserve Forces, and, therefore, a member of the Defence Force.
I am of opinion, therefore, that any such person may be tried by court-martial and may be punished by his Commanding Officer under regulation 558.
In all other respects I concur in the opinions expressed.
[Vol. 19, p. 221]