Bosworth and Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (Veterans' entitlements)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr Bosworth against a decision of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission. The core dispute before the Tribunal was whether Mr Bosworth's diagnosed condition of Hashimoto's thyroiditis arose out of his war service.

The Tribunal was required to determine if a reasonable hypothesis existed that connected Mr Bosworth's Hashimoto's thyroiditis to his war service. This involved considering the relevant legislative framework, including section 23 of the MRC Act, and applying the established steps for assessing war-caused conditions as outlined in *Repatriation Commission v Deledio*.

The Tribunal applied the four-step process from *Deledio*. It first considered whether the material before it raised a hypothesis connecting the condition to service. Finding no such hypothesis, the Tribunal concluded that the claim must fail at this initial stage. The Tribunal also referred to the principle in *East v Repatriation Commission* that a reasonable hypothesis must be more than a mere possibility and must be pointed to by the facts, even if not proven on the balance of probabilities. Based on the evidence, including a thyroid function test report, the Tribunal found no reasonable hypothesis connecting Mr Bosworth's condition with his war service.

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the decision under review, finding that Mr Bosworth's claimed condition was not war-caused.