Anderson v Repatriation Commission

In the matter of Anderson v Repatriation Commission, the appellant, Ms Anderson, sought to challenge a decision made by the Tribunal in relation to her husband’s service pension. The Tribunal had found that Mr Anderson’s last remunerative work was the operation of his farm at Camperdown and that he was not prevented by incapacity from war-caused injury or disease, or both, alone, from continuing to undertake that remunerative work. Ms Anderson argued that the Tribunal had failed to apply any correct principle and had not characterised the remunerative activity undertaken by Mr Anderson correctly.

The central issue for the court was whether the Tribunal had correctly determined that the last remunerative work undertaken by Mr Anderson was the operation of his farm at Camperdown and that he was not prevented by incapacity from war-caused injury or disease, or both, alone, from continuing to undertake that remunerative work. The court also needed to consider whether the Tribunal had failed to apply any correct principle and whether it had correctly characterised the remunerative activity undertaken by Mr Anderson.

The court found that the Tribunal had performed its task correctly. It had correctly determined that the last remunerative work undertaken by Mr Anderson was the operation of his farm at Camperdown and that he was not prevented by incapacity from war-caused injury or disease, or both, alone, from continuing to undertake that remunerative work. The court found that the reasons why Mr Anderson ceased to undertake his last paid work were determinative of the application of the ‘alone’ test. The court also found that the Tribunal had not failed to apply any correct principle or to characterise the remunerative activity undertaken by Mr Anderson correctly.

The appeal was dismissed, and the applicant was ordered to pay the respondent’s costs of the proceeding. The court found that no reason was advanced, and none appeared, as to why the usual rule that costs follow the event should not be followed.