Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) Where an officer has been transferred to a Reserve under section 7, an enlisted member has been discharged from the Defence Force under section 8 or the continuous full - time service of a member has been terminated under section 9, the Minister shall, when he is satisfied that the result of the relevant election is certain, declare, by notice published in the Gazette , that he is so satisfied.
(2) The Minister shall, before making a declaration under the last preceding subsection in relation to an election, have regard to any dispute, and any proceedings in relation to a dispute, with respect to the election.
(3) The Minister may, for the purposes of subsection ( 1), treat the result of an election as being certain if, at the expiration of thirty days after the return of the writ relating to the election, the validity of the election has not been disputed in accordance with law and the Minister has no reason to believe that it will be so disputed.