A member of the defence includes:
- A current serving member (full time or reserve)
- A member who has been discharged and holds a defence force licence that has not expired by
more than five years
- Some civilian staff who are tested by the defence forces
If you are the dependant (including spouse) of a member of the defence forces you cannot drive in Victoria if you have lived in Victoria continuously for more than three months unless you hold a Driver Identification Document issued by the Commonwealth Department of Defence.
To convert your car learner permit to a Victorian one you must be at least 16 years of age and 18 years of age to convert a licence or motorcycle learner permit.
If you are a serving member of the defence forces and you hold:
- a valid and current interstate licence or learner permit, and
- a valid Driver Identification Document issued by the Commonwealth Department of Defence
you do not have to change your civilian interstate licence to a Victorian licence. That means you can continue to drive in Victoria using your interstate licence while you are serving in Victoria.
However, when your interstate civilian licence expires, you must change it over to a Victorian licence. You will not have to do a test.
If you hold only a Military licence, the law allows you to drive only military vehicles that are specified on the licence on Victorian roads. You cannot drive civilian vehicles on a military licence.
If you hold a current defence force licence, a 3 or 10 year Victorian licence can be issued to you. No test is required to convert the licence to Victorian.
You will need to produce:
You will need to contact VicRoads to make an appointment to have your interstate licence converted to a Victorian licence. You can do this by:
You will need to pay a fee for the issue of a Victorian licence or learner permit. See Driver Licence and Learner permit fees.
No Fees will be required if you are converting a current interstate civilian licence to Victorian. In this case the expiry date on your interstate licence will become your expiry date on the Victorian licence.
If you are visiting Victoria as an overseas defence force member you can drive on your overseas licence for as long as you are in Victoria. Your overseas licence must remain current and it must be in English or accompanied by an English translation. See Using an interpreter or translator about which documents can be used as an official English translation.
However, if you enter Australia under a permanent visa or become a permanent resident of Victoria while residing here, you must change your overseas licence to a Victorian licence. You need to do this within either six months of arriving in Australia, or six months from the date a permanent visa was issued to you while in Victoria.
An Exchange Duty Officer is someone who is:
- a member of any overseas defence force
- a dependant of a member of any overseas defence force
and is on exchange with the Australian Defence forces.
You can have a Victorian licence or learner permit issued by providing the appropriate evidence of identity and paying a licence fee. No test is required to have the licence or learner permit issued.
Australian defence forces only issue driver licences. However a member of the defence force may hold a learner permit issued from an interstate licensing authority (eg. from New South Wales).
If you do hold a learner permit issued from another state or territory (eg. for a car) you can apply for a learner permit in another category (eg. for a motorcycle) in Victoria. However, before the Victorian learner permit is upgraded to a licence, any interstate licence you may have must be changed over to a Victorian licence.