months from appointment) to be a senator or a member of the House of Representatives. The position of ministers assisting, parliamentary secretaries and for ministers without portfolio is problematic. The wording of the exemption in relation to the armed forces has been described by law professor Tony Blackshield as "extremely obscure". In his view, while it is generally assumed to apply to "persons who are members of the defence forces other than in a full-time capacity", the obscurity renders that assumption doubtful; and there is some question as to members of the RAAF, which can be comfortably read as part of the "military forces" as elsewhere in the Constitution, but it is harder to include it in the expression "navy or army". It was not thought that active military service during World War I acted to disqualify Senator James O'Loghlin. Free v Kelly (1996) One aspect of the challenge to the election of Jackie Kelly in 1996 was that she was serving as an officer of the Royal Australian Air Force at the time of her nomination on 2 February 1996 prior to her transfer to the Air Force Reserve on 17 February. The majority in Sykes v Cleary had determined that the process of being chosen commences on nomination. Kelly subsequently conceded that she was incapable of being chosen because she was a full-time officer of the RAAF at the time of her nomination as a candidate. Blackshield suggested that Kelly's concession may have been greater than was necessary. Kelly won the subsequent by-election with an increased margin. Notes References External links Australian constitutional law