Jett Palmer
Jett James/Palmer (2012-2015; 2017; 2019)
Will McDonald
Episodes: 5511–6228; 6329–6337; 6664–6680; 7060–7062; 7084–7120
Date of Birth: 1st May 1998
Parents: Liz James (deceased) & Richard Bozic
Adoptive Parents: John Palmer & Marilyn Chambers
Foster Parents: Gina Palmer (deceased)
Adoptive Siblings: Shandi Palmer
Foster Siblings: Hugo, Brendan & Xavier Austin
Marital Status: Lindsey (2023-present)
Occupation: Student/Cadet, Soldier
Jett was first seen stealing a wallet on the beach and subsequently turned up at Summer Bay High having stolen VJ’s uniform. While John was quick to keep an eye on him, Gina punished him for the bullying but let him stay at the school and after meeting his mother Liz, who was illiterate and on sick pay, vowed to keep an eye on him. Jett pretended to apologise to VJ and claimed they were friends now but instead stole his lunch and got him to give him free meals at the Diner. He approached Heath and asked him for some drugs but Heath turned him away.
Jett broke into Colleen’s caravan when he overheard her saying she had money hidden in her Toby jug collection, knocking the shelf down and breaking the jugs in the process. He was questioned by Senior Sergeant Emerson but claimed not to know where he was at the time. When Gina questioned him about missing school, he told her Liz was back in hospital. He stole the money from Indi’s purse, which she chose not to report. He turned Gina away when she came to the house to see Liz, although Xavier later spoke to her while Jett was out.
Xavier noticed him taking showers by the beach while Gina realised he was more intelligent than he seemed. Xavier thought Jett had mugged Marilyn and, when he caught him playing truant, got him to empty his bag but found nothing. Gina put him on detention where she bought him some food but he told her he had robbed Marilyn. Gina tried to see Liz but Jett claimed she was in hospital and he had been sleeping on the beach. Gina let him stay with her for the night and got him to apologise to Marilyn and return her bag but then John turned up with the police. It was then discovered Liz had died three days ago, seemingly of a drug overdose, and Jett had kept quiet. He tried to flee custody, biting Xavier’s hand, but was told he wouldn’t be charged and, after saying goodbye to Gina, was sent away to foster care.
He ran away from the foster home and asked Gina if he could stay with her. Despite John and Xavier’s opposition, she agreed and arranged it with DOCS. John warned him not to take advantage of Gina and took him to help him out at the surf club, where he caught him stealing a woman’s purse. The woman didn’t press charges but a telling off from Gina saw Jett pack his bags and head to the bus stop until John talked him into returning. The family accompanied him to Liz’s funeral but he reacted badly when VJ offered his condolences. When he heard VJ talking about her death with some other boys, he hit him. He then pushed Gina into a table when she tried to remonstrate with him. He tried to apologise to her but Xavier squared up to him and he briefly ran away when he heard Xavier trying to get Gina to send him away, only to turn up saying he’d apologised to VJ.
Jett was bullied by Jayden Post and his friends and the police had to break up a fight near the surf club. Xavier pocketed a photograph of Liz with a man that had fallen from Jett’s bag, which Jett seemed desperate to get back, and, when he later returned the photo, told Jett the man was someone called Richard Bozic. Jett said he’d found the photograph and thought the man might be his father. He later confided in Gina that he had always wondered who his father was but Liz had never told him and he felt he was missing out on something.
When he learned Xavier was leaving town, he was worried he’d driven him away but they eventually made their peace. He got hold of a list of all the Bozics in the area but wasn’t sure whether to pursue the idea. When VJ talked about how he’d like to meet his father, Jett stole his phone to start calling them. VJ took his list hostage in order to get the phone back, resulting in Jett realising there was a page missing and that Gina had taken it, angrily confronting her. John had to stop him from running away and, when Gina told him that she’d met Richard and he wasn’t interested in seeing him, he went to Richard’s house and smashed up his garden, injuring his hand in the process. He met Richard properly when he came to town to complain about the incident but, although they got on, Richard disappeared without saying goodbye after John pointed out what responsibility fatherhood was. Afterwards, Jett threw himself into fitting in in Summer Bay, helping John out at the surf club. He panicked when John was home late, prompting Gina to get concerned and invite Natalie to a family dinner to try and force a counselling session on him, which annoyed Jett, Natalie and John.
He became worried when he discovered John and Gina were meeting with his case worker, Molly Brenner, in secret, suspecting they were trying to get rid of him, and acted out by spray painting the surf club. He was caught by Alf and given a talking to by Natalie. When John and Gina discovered the cause of his concern, they told him that they’d actually been planning to foster him permanently. However, Molly then announced that Richard had requested a DNA test to see if he was Jett’s father and would be applying for custody if it was positive, with John having to talk Jett out of running away at the news. The test came back positive and when Jett disappeared, John worried that he’d run away but he’d merely gone to buy Gina a birthday present. However, they then received confirmation Richard wanted custody. After spending their last day together, Jett announced he wanted to stay with the Palmers. As a result, they refused to hand him over when Richard turned up but when Richard called the police and John was threatened with arrest, Jett changed his mind and agreed to go with Richard.
After only a couple of weeks, Richard brought Jett back to Summer Bay, since he had been behaving badly because he wanted to live with John and Gina. He visited VJ to try and smooth over the difficulties between them and was initially puzzled when he saw Liam writing songs since he thought he was only a barman, being impressed when he realised Liam had been one of his mum’s favourite singers. Liam talked to him about needing to make things up to people they’d wronged and he and VJ bonded playing video games. John encouraged him to take part in the surf carnival and started training him. Jett was dispirited that VJ kept beating him and mocked VJ about coming last the previous year but it didn’t affect VJ’s performance. Jett wanted to quit but John told him to just do his best and he was impressed when John saved Romeo from drowning. When he overheard John and Gina arguing about Marilyn, he stormed into the Diner and called her a marriage wrecker. Marilyn marched him back to John and Gina and Gina decided they should all apologise to Marilyn. When John and Gina split, he seemed resigned to it, telling John not to keep trying at a relationship that didn’t work. He overheard Marilyn telling Leah that John had tried to kiss her and told Gina that they’d kissed. When Gina took her frustrations out on another student, Alistair, he badmouthed her and Jett ended up in a fight with him. He then told Gina he wanted to stay with John. When John chose to work on the surf carnival instead of hanging out with him, he told Liam he was worried he’d made things worse between John and Gina so John reassured him.
When VJ told him that separated parents let children get away with anything, the two of them managed to play John and Gina off each other, telling them separate stories and getting money off them both before stealing some fireworks intended for the surf carnival and setting them off on the headland, but got caught. He avoided punishment by telling Gina that she and John were never there for him but Marilyn overheard him bragging about getting away with it. After he’d competed in the surf carnival, John and Gina set him to work cleaning the surf club. He and VJ ran into Jamie Sharpe, Leah’s new boyfriend, on the beach and he gave them a ride on his jet ski, although he paid most of his attention to VJ. Jett was at VJ’s when Jamie turned up with some video games, although Jett didn’t get much of a go. He was asked by Gina to help John when he came to the house determined that they do a number of DIY jobs together, which ended with John slipping in spilt water on the kitchen floor and hitting his head. When John moved back in, Jett was uncertain whether to be pleased by the situation and left a phone in John’s pocket to record a conversation between him and Marilyn. He played Gina the recording of John making pleasurable noises but Gina instantly realised he had merely been tasting cake icings. He was bothered by Jamie, who thought he knew where Leah and VJ had gone when they left town abruptly, and John advised him to stay away from Jamie. He got a message, apparently from VJ, asking for help and told Liam but Liam realised Jamie had sent it. His phone then went missing and John returned it to him after learning Jamie had stolen it.
He tried to question Liam about VJ’s whereabouts but Liam snapped at him. Indi comforted him and offered to be his friend until VJ returned, resulting in him developing a crush on her. He invited her to keep an eye on him while John and Gina were out and was disappointed when Romeo turned up with her. He deleted a message from Romeo on Indi’s phone then smeared some of Gina’s lipstick on Romeo’s collar but it failed to have an effect on the couple and resulted in Romeo warning him off. When Indi offered to babysit for him again, Jett managed to convince John and Gina that it was a special occasion for them so they went out to dinner together. However, John then invited Romeo round to talk to him about girls. Wanting to be alone with Indi, he stole Romeo’s wallet and locked him in a shed when he went to retrieve it. However, he then found himself dragged along to a Walker family barbecue instead, which descended into embarrassment when first Romeo turned up with a minor injury and then John and Gina appeared, exposing his deception. Indi told him she only saw him as a friend and John comforted him.
John and Gina convinced him to attend an underage disco to meet girls with his own age, with both John and Liam giving him advice about girls. He tried to chat up Olivia Friar but couldn’t remember her name. Liam managed to get Olivia to notice him but John convinced him to ask Nina Bailey, who had been shyly watching him from a corner, to dance instead.
Tilda Hogan began bullying Jett, forcing him to do a joint assignment on his own. As a result, he pretended to be ill in order to stay at home. He was forced to return to school when John and Gina suggested he see a doctor, where Tilda was angry he hadn’t done her assignment and punched him just before John appeared. However, he refused to discuss the matter with John and Gina and told Sasha he deserved it because he used to be a bully himself. Tilda pretended to make peace with him, then accused him of scribbling on her textbook. She then accused him of pushing her into a locker prompting Gina to tell them to stay away from each other. She accused Jett of hitting her but her black eye was revealed to be make up. Jett understood about Gina needing to be impartial and try to see the good in people. Tilda refused to let up on the bullying and Sasha and Spencer encouraged him to tell Gina but neither that nor asking Tilda why she was doing it made a difference. When Spencer and Maddy gave him further advice, he wrote an essay for Tilda in which she purportedly admitted to the bullying and confessed to fancying him, which Gina read out to the class. When Tilda tried to confront him afterwards, Jett made fun of her in front of their classmates, leaving her humiliated.
After the incident, Jett found himself more popular and began hanging out with Nina and her friends. However, when John and Gina offered to adopt him, he reacted badly, saying he was a bully and they shouldn’t want him in their family. However, after seeing how well Harvey and Spencer got on, he decided to give it a try. He told Molly he definitely wanted to be adopted but was shocked to hear Richard was coming down to discuss it. When Richard questioned the adoption, Jett stormed out of the meeting. John convinced the pair to talk alone and Jett told Richard that he’d always be his father but he loved John and Gina. Richard agreed to the adoption and he and Jett parted on good terms. Jett, John and Gina signed the adoption papers together but it still needed to go through court. When John had to have a medical because of his earlier heart attack, Jett worried he’d stressed him out. However, they received the news that DoCS had agreed to support the adoption. The trio set off for the city to make everything official but on the way Gina collapsed and died of an aneurysm. Jett fainted when he saw her body being taken away. Xavier, on returning for the funeral, told him they were still family and John reassured him they’d continue trying for the adoption.
Jett started back at school, with Casey walking him in, but became upset when he saw Bianca, who had been made acting principal, clearing out Gina’s things from the office and holed himself up in there until John came to comfort him. John tried doing everything the same way Gina had done but Jett told him it was just making him miss her more so they decided to adopt a bachelor lifestyle. When John admitted he was having difficulties adopting Jett on his own, Jett felt that John considered it too much trouble and ran off. John found him sleeping in Gina’s old office and they both concluded they didn’t need a piece of paper to prove they were father and son.
He began seeing Nina and skipped school to spend time with her, admitting the truth to John afterwards. He was worried when she wanted him to take her out so John and Brax helped him arrange a dinner at Angelo’s. Although it went well, he broke up with her, telling Marilyn he felt bad about being happy so soon after Gina. He was with Casey when a bag full of money was dropped off at his house and Casey told him to run when he realised the police were coming. He ran to the restaurant and told Brax, Kyle and Tamara what was going on. He was upset that John wouldn’t let him talk to the police and possibly help Casey but Marilyn convinced him John probably understood better than him.
He got back together with Nina after Indi gave him some advice. He then tried to get John and Marilyn to sort out difficulties they were having but John refused to talk to her. Jett eventually sorted things out by convincing John Marilyn had had an accident so he’d go and see her, although John got his own back by convincing Jett he’d spent the day running around town looking for her. He was angry when John injured his back during a gym competition with Harvey, reminding him that he’d promised to take care of himself and telling him all their promises were now void. Bianca and Zac found him hiding out at the school and reminded him that the things he was criticising John for were what they all loved about him. Jett went home and gave John a lecture but said he didn’t want him to change. He and Marilyn looked after John when he came home but Marilyn quickly realised John was exaggerating the injury. He was reunited with VJ, who joined him and Marilyn in getting revenge on John by winding him up about how Harvey was doing a good job running the surf club in his absence.
He introduced VJ to Nina but was confused to find there was bad blood between them which they both refused to explain. When he learned that VJ believed Nina had stolen his Pokémon card when he was In primary school, he was more amused than anything else. Nina explained VJ lost his card and thought one the teacher found was his, but insisted it was hers; however, he told all his friends she’d stolen it and turned the school against her. VJ insisted Jett choose between them and he chose Nina. When he saw Leah take VJ out of school for medical tests and overheard Sally and Roo talking about it, he became concerned, which got him and VJ talking again. When Pippa started at school, they checked her records and found she had mitochondrial disease. They offered to support her only to find she hadn’t been told. Feeling guilty, they offered to look out for her at school.
When one of his computer games went missing, VJ convinced him Nina was responsible. He confronted her but she was angry at being accused and walked away. He eventually found out that not only had John sold his game behind his back, but VJ had left the card he thought Nina had stolen in one of his old books. Nina was furious that Jett had suspected her and refused to forgive him. Jett was upset when he witnessed Pippa having a fit at school. Marilyn helped John comfort him but this led Jett to realise Marilyn had feelings for John, and he made it clear to her that he was opposed to the idea of them as a couple, feeling Gina would be unhappy with the idea given their history. When he got roped into acting as a guinea pig for a try-out of the pair’s bus tour, he started heckling Marilyn. The bus then mysteriously broke down and John left them alone while he went to get help. The pair talked it over and made their peace, at which point the bus mysteriously restarted with the radio playing Gina’s favourite song.
When Pippa returned to school, she instantly decided to play truant and Jett went along to keep an eye on her. Nina saw them together and told Sally, who blamed Jett, causing Jett and Nina to argue again. He managed to win her back by serenading her with help from Casey and Kyle. Jett was now in favour of John and Marilyn getting together and, when Winston Markman returned to town and made it clear he was interested in Marilyn, Jett threw John’s hat into the ring, dragging him into intruding on Winston and Marilyn’s lunch date on the pier. When Winston tried to outdo John’s bunch of flowers, Jett stole John’s credit card and bought Marilyn some earrings in his name (along with some pizzas for himself, VJ and Pippa), angering John to the point that he nearly derailed their attempts to keep Pippa occupied while her farewell party was set up. He learned Marilyn was arranging a holiday for Winston but John thought Marilyn was going with him, and Jett raced to the caravan park to talk her out of it only to find it was actually Harvey who was going. He helped John and Marilyn out with their first official tour by posing as another tourist and agreeing with the made up facts Marilyn was spouting. He gossiped about Brax being arrested and John took him to the Braxtons’ to apologise only for them to embarrass Kyle by finding him with Robyn Sullivan. He tried to get John to tell Marilyn his feelings but backed off when John revealed he wasn’t ready to move on from Gina.
Jett was shocked when Nina announced that Summer Bay High’s merger with Mangrove River had prompted her parents to send her to boarding school and broke up with him. In the end, it was Indigo that comforted him. He had dinner at Roo’s place while Harvey was missing and felt awkward talking about Nina with her, but was pleased when he overheard John and Marilyn talking and realised they were now a couple. He tried to get John to let him go to the same school as Nina and John had to admit he couldn’t afford it. Nina then ran away and Jett hid her at the house overnight. When John found out, Jett ran away with her and they hid out in the shed at the Walker farm. Spencer found them and convinced them to go home, with Nina having to return to school. Jett found himself grounded, with John angry he’d broken his promise not to run away, and worried that he was stopping John and Marilyn spending time together, teamed up with Alf to arrange a romantic lunch for them. He accidentally revealed the relationship to Roo and helped John and Marilyn navigate going public.
Jett was desperate to go to the music festival Tamara was arranging and worked all day at the surf club, before learning John and Marilyn were both going to be there so he’d have had to have gone anyway. He managed to sneak off to join the revellers by convincing John to check on the bus, then went to sleep in the vehicle. Afterwards, John let him off the leash enough to send him to get coffees from the Diner.
He annoyed John by betting on a pool game with Andy Barrett and played peacemaker when John and Marilyn argued over her kissing Nate to prove a point. When he heard that Irene was away, he started organising a party at her house, putting up flyers and arranging with VJ to have supplies diverted there from the Diner. Sasha and Chris were happy to go along with it but Irene came home in the middle of the party and summoned John and Leah. John set him to work doing chores but Marilyn did his work for him at the Diner, prompting John to get him to move a pile of mulch at the caravan park. In the process, he found a box containing a necklace and a note saying it was bought with stolen money. He and VJ turned detective and learned Marilyn had bought it with money stolen from Alf years previous, which Roo had been blamed for, and had felt so guilty she’d buried it. He blackmailed Marilyn into doing his and VJ’s chores only to end up in an awkward situation when Marilyn confessed all to Alf and John. Leah assigned him to the Year 7 buddy system, which resulted in Darcy getting a crush on him and throwing a milkshake over his friend Ella Smith.
Jett was recruited by Sasha to conduct a poll to see who was likely to vote for her as school captain, but after he’d done all the hard work she showed no interest in seeing the results and refused to pay him what they’d agreed. Matt convinced him to help teach Sasha a lesson and he provided a distraction when Matt and Josh kidnapped Sasha and dumped her in the middle of nowhere, nearly causing her to miss her election speech. When Sasha was made head of the student council, Jett tried to get her to give him a position. He tried to blackmail her on learning she’d kissed Matt and told John and Marilyn he wanted the position to make sure people didn’t forget Gina. He lost his leverage when Matt told Spencer about the kiss and assured Sasha he’d never have told anyone; she appointed him to the council anyway and Casey helped him with a speech about setting up a memorial. He began organising brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas. When Leah fell ill after eating poisoned risotto, Jett worried about what would happen to VJ if she died. He was annoyed that John didn’t want to be tested to see if he could donate a liver to Leah and got tested himself, although Leah recovered anyway.
He was the first person to pick up on the fact that Oscar had a crush on Maddy. He gave a short speech at the launch of a writing competition in Gina’s memory and was disappointed that Marilyn didn’t turn up, until he found out she’d had a bench dedicated to Gina on the headland. He told Marilyn that his birthday was coming up and he expected John to forget again. When John spoke to him about it, he admitted he’d never celebrated his birthday. He was initially unimpressed when John presented him with a fishing boat as a present but enjoyed watching John’s attempts to get the leaking boat up onto the beach. When he learned he would have to pay to have the boat fixed up, he arranged with Alf and Denny to do work around the boat shed. He realised John didn’t want him going on school camp and, worried John couldn’t afford it, announced he didn’t want to go. However, John was merely worried about missing him and told him to go.
While he was away, he took part in a prank to superglue basketballs to the floor, damaging the court and leaving John will a bill for $500. John grounded him but Jett went to Marilyn who gave him permission to go to the skate park. Jett was angry with John for blaming Marilyn, then felt betrayed when Marilyn told him he had to pay for the damages. John forced him to work for free at the gelato bar during a party to pay off his debt, but when Sasha suggested it was illegal he quit. He took a job at the boat shed but Marilyn arranged for him to be paid at the surf club and pay John back in instalments. He also advised Matt on how to apologise to Sasha for embarrassing her at the party.
Alf showed him that his boat, Diana, was finished aside from a few safety checks. Marilyn asked him for permission to propose to John and he readily agrees, only to be left deflated when John turned down the proposal. He took Diana out on his own only for the boat to start sinking. He attempted to swim back to shore but ended up having to be rescued by Brax, Alf and John. He then found out John and Marilyn were engaged after all but John was too angry to celebrate. He eventually forgave Jett when he realised he’d just been upset at the idea of losing Marilyn.
When Darcy convinced him to take her for a juice, he told her he only saw her as a friend and had to deal with an angry Heath. He also had to put up Marilyn’s attempts to redecorate when she lived with him as a trial, after which they all went to stay with Alf and Maddy at the caravan park for a while. However, when Roo returned home early and the only place left for Jett to sleep was on the couch, he decamped to Leah and VJ’s.
John arranged for him to work a shift on the tour bus to pay off his debt. He and the rest of the family briefly moved back into the caravan park house to help out while Roo was hospitalised but then Marilyn refused to go with him and John when they returned home. Jett was upset at the estrangement and convinced them to set a wedding date. He gave Matt advice about living with the school principal and was pleased when he was asked to be best man at John and Marilyn’s wedding. Nina returned for one night for her grandmother’s birthday; Jett was initially downcast when Marilyn invited her for a family meal so Alf quickly changed it to a romantic dinner for two for the pair. However, Jett still faced the prospect of being separated from her again so Marilyn suggested inviting her to the wedding. He arranged to take her out for a picnic before she left and she managed to get her parents’ permission to come back. He was puzzled by John’s worried behaviour and offered his help with wedding arrangements. He then learned about John’s daughter Shandi and attempted to convince her that John was a good man.
He attempted to cook John dinner, then took him and Marilyn out to Angelo’s, admitting to Marilyn that he was worried with Shandi around John wouldn’t want him. After John unsuccessfully attempted to bond over breakfast and gardening, Marilyn got them to admit what they meant to each other. He attended an afternoon tea with John, Marilyn and Shandi and tried to convince Shandi to give Marilyn a chance. When Shandi disappeared, he worried he’d scared her off and was relieved when he saw her return, until she sent Marilyn away from a family dinner. He learned of Casey’s death from John and Marilyn and was recruited by Shandi to stop them postponing the wedding. He then attended Casey’s funeral. He joined John and Marilyn’s abortive attempt to elope, despite his suit being too small and helped Chris organise an impromptu bucks party which left John with an injured back. He tried to convince VJ to accept Leah and Zac together. He was reunited with Nina at the wedding and in his best man’s speech asked John and Marilyn to adopt him. He tried to help John make a meditation CD using the sound of the ocean in order to raise money for a holiday and discovered that VJ was missing after being dumped in the bush by bully Tyson Lee. When Marilyn bought him a skateboard on the day the adoption was meant to go through, he was reminded of what happened to Gina and didn’t feel able to get in the car, so John arranged for the papers to be signed home.
When John suggested they start a family business to raise holiday money, Jett was shocked by the realisation he was now John’s son and was nervous about calling him Dad for the first time but when he did John was pleased. They decided to organise a movie night together and Jett ended up in a rivalry with Phoebe, who had an open mike night the same evening, claiming Angelo’s had a rat problem. He helped Marilyn try to boost John’s ego by getting him to fix the dishwasher. He attended a meeting to discuss HSC electives and was frustrated when both John and Marilyn offered advice. He implied that he was considering becoming a doctor. John hired Oscar to tutor him in Maths but Jett failed to turn up to the session and was angry when John paid Oscar anyway. Marilyn realised he was worried John couldn’t afford it and John reassured him. However, Marilyn kept hanging around during tutoring sessions and Jett ended up losing his temper with her. John suggested it was because he saw Marilyn as mother figure, shocking him since he had never really had one before, but they both resolve to try their best with the new relationship.
Soon after, his new birth certificate arrived, making him officially Jett Palmer, but showed he was a year older than he had thought. While initially thrown by yet another example of how his mother didn’t know what was going on with him, he accepted it without objection. He got good marks in his end of term report but the comments suggested he should try harder. He was bewildered when Marilyn invited Zac over to question him about the comments but told Marilyn he was glad she was willing to fight for him. He asked to go on the trip to Phoebe’s music launch but John refused him permission.
Jett did his best to cheer up VJ when Leah was left in a coma after a bus crash. He reluctantly took him out for a joyride in one of the surf club buggies; VJ wanted to just abandon it at the caravan park but Jett tried to take it back and ended up driving into a tent. John forced him to pay for a replacement and do jobs at the surf club, as well as getting new police officer Kat Chapman to read him the riot act, until Jett admitted why he’d done it. He was unconcerned when Brax was accused of murder until it prompted John to want to move house and transfer them all to the caravan park house for a few days. When he learned that John and Chris were going to wash off a mural Josh had done on the side of the surf club, he saw it as destruction of art and went to warn Josh and Evelyn, joining them in standing in front of the mural, but reluctantly abandoned the protest to go to school. He was distraught to learn an offer had been made on the house and begged Marilyn to stop the move happening, with John evwentually backing down.
When he got into an argument with VJ, Zac and John started giving them boxing lessons. Getting bored of training, they asked for a proper bout but were refused. They realised John and Zac were stringing them along with endless training and confronted them about the deception. John and Zac agreed to let them fight but Jett went off the idea on seeing VJ punch Oscar. He took part in the town’s colour run. When John was unable to attend a navy reunion for Anzac Day, Jett and Marilyn encouraged him to set up a war memorial in Summer Bay. He was one of the more interested students on the Anzac Day trip and the first to notice something wrong with Alf, leading the group who found him when he suffered a panic attack. He visited Alf in hospital in the city and met Second World War veteran Tom Knight. The experience inspired him to lead the other teens in organising an Anzac Day commemoration on the beach, where Alf told him that Tom had died and gave him his medals to wear.
He and Marilyn went to the city to keep an eye on Alf. On his return, Jett told John that he wanted to join the military but John was unconvinced of his commitment and Marilyn was dead against the idea, telling him about losing her son Byron and her failed attempt to adopt George. After talking with Roo about the effect Alf’s service had had on him, Jett agreed to forget the idea. When he heard that Leah had an aneurysm and was refusing surgery, it brought back memories of what happened to Gina and he helped look for Leah when she went missing in the bush. He bet John that Chris would stick at his bronze medallion training but felt awkward about it when John put him through an intense schedule to get him to quit; he did however pay up when Chris injured himself. He was informed he had received a cadet scholarship to boarding school, which he had applied for earlier. John and Marilyn convinced him to accept it but learned he would be leaving in two weeks. They offered to go with him and Jett liked the idea but on seeing how upset about the idea everyone was he decided Summer Bay needed them more than him and convinced them to stay, saying it gave him a home to come back to. After attending a farewell party at the Diner, he said farewell to Alf on the beach before John and Marilyn waved him off.
Later that year, Jett came to visit John after Marilyn went on a round the world trip, having been given leave. He had broken up with Nina, since they were unable to keep going long distance, and was now dating Skye Peters, a student at the academy’s sister school who he met while working on a musical. He asked if Skye could stay with them for a while, since her mother was away. However, the truth was that Skye had run away from her mother, who was treating her badly after her sister died. After chatting with VJ about getting adult help with Olivia’s self harming, Jett convinced her to tell John the truth and together he and John accompanied Skye home to talk to her mother. With the pair apparently back on better terms, Jett went to show John around his school.
Jett returned to town in 2017 after Alf informed him John and Marilyn had separated, following John being convicted for a number of arsons he committed while suffering from a brain tumour. Jett was initially angry that Marilyn hadn’t stood by him and told her he was still a good man, but when John admitted he wasn’t sure himself Jett advised him to see a therapist while he apologised to Marilyn and asked to stay with her for a while. After John realised he couldn’t remember anything before the age of twelve, Jett accompanied him on a trip to his childhood home where they found his father George had died in a fire, not of a heart attack as John had been told. Jett refused to accept John’s belief that he had killed his father and started the fire and suggested John try hypnotherapy. He got Marilyn to practise on him before trying it with John. The session resulted in Jett and Marilyn discovering that John’s mother had convinced him to burn his father’s body and make it look like an accident after he committed suicide. He convinced Marilyn to tell John the truth and helped look for further information about George. After John moved back in, he left with his work done.
In late 2018, John, Marilyn and Raffy went to Canberra for Jett’s passing out parade as he was commissioned as a lieutenant. The following year, he visited them to reveal he was being posted to Afghanistan in 48 hours and was waved off by Alf, John and Marilyn. A few weeks later, news arrived that he had been injured in an explosion and was being treated at a field hospital in Germany. John and Marilyn brought him back to Summer Bay, where he was told his spinal cord had been severed and he wouldn’t walk again. He initially went into denial before admitting to Jasmine that he was worried John and Marilyn would have to look after him. He was left despondent when his first attempt at using a wheelchair resulted in him cutting his leg but was more positive after John convinced him to practise further. He began having rehab sessions with Mason at the gym although he was upset by his limitations. He went back to live with John and Marilyn and was visited by Colonel Kate Porter and Lieutenant-Colonel Gregory Haynes who interviewed him for the enquiry. He recalled being with the two soldiers who were killed shortly before the explosion but was unable to recall if he had responded to a heightened alert. Having already missed one of the soldiers’ funerals, he insisted on going to attend the other one.
Despite handling himself well at the funeral, he sank into depression on his return, saying he should be dead. He received the news he had been cleared of responsibility for the explosion and decided to move out but was told there was no accomodation available. With nothing to aim for, he gave up his physio sessions with Mason and Willow until John and Marilyn offered to help him find somewhere. He rejected Robbo’s attempts to counsel him, saying Robbo wouldn’t understand unless he’d caused someone to die, but regretted it when he learned Robbo’s family had been murdered in a revenge attack.
John began doing everything for Jett but Marilyn took Jett to the Diner and got him to wait tables. Jett decided he wanted to be a counsellor but was soon put off the idea by Wilson, since he hadn’t dealt with his own issues yet. After Alf and John put him in touch with a veterans organisation, he decided to travel around telling his story. He was then offered accomodation in the city. He wasn’t sure if he was ready so it was decided he, John and Marilyn would travel down there to look at it, which allayed his fears. He returned for Raffy’s 16th birthday party, arranging for Justin and Mason to carry him up and down the stairs to Salt. Next morning, he had a farewell breakfast with several of the locals at the Diner and visited Gina’s bench before John and Marilyn took him to his new home in the city. John would travel back and forth for the next few weeks to help him out before he felt he was able to cope without him.
Four years later, John and Marilyn learned that Jett had proposed to his girlfriend, Lindsey, and the pair attended the off-screen wedding in July 2023.
*During his 2019 stint, he was incorrectly credited under his old name, Jett James, but continued to be referred to Jett Palmer in dialogue.