Carr and Repatriation Commission

[2011] AATA 42

Administrative Appeals Tribunal

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2011] AATA 42

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No 2010/1353

VETERANS' APPEALS DIVISION		)
Re		ANTHONY GEORGE CARR

Applicant

And REPATRIATION COMMISSION

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Senior Member K Bean
Mr S J Ellis AM (Member)

Date31 January 2011

PlaceAdelaide

Decision The decision under review is affirmed.

..............................................

K BEAN
  (Senior Member)

CATCHWORDS

VETERANS' AFFAIRS – Veterans’ entitlements – Rate of disability pension – Special rate – Whether part-time teaching work part of remunerative work undertaken by veteran – Application of “alone” test – Veteran’s cessation of full-time employment contributed to by factors other than accepted disabilities – Cessation of part-time work also contributed to by other factors – Alone test not satisfied – Decision under review affirmed.

Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (Cth) s 24

Starcevich v Repatriation Commission (1987) 76 ALR 449
Hill v Repatriation Commission [2000] FCA 929
Anderson v Repatriation Commission [2004] FCA 1009
Repatriation Commission v Hendy (2002) 76 ALD 47

REASONS FOR DECISION

31 January 2011   Senior Member K Bean
  Mr SJ Ellis AM (Member)

introduction

1.      The applicant, Mr Carr, was conscripted into the Australian Army in April 1966, and deployed to Vietnam in April 1967.  He was wounded in action during the Vietnam war and ultimately discharged following his return to Australia on 18 March 1968.  Prior to being called up for national service, he had been employed by the National Australia Bank (NAB) as a probationer and following his return from Vietnam, he resumed that employment on 10 April 1968.  For some 39 years after that, he pursued a highly successful career with the NAB, rising to the position of Controller of the Asset Structuring Department in Adelaide.  Between 1984 and 2006 he also carried out lecturing in banking on a part-time basis at a TAFE college.

2.      Unfortunately, Mr Carr’s career with the NAB ended prematurely when he resigned on 2 November 2002, following the arrival of a new manager and in circumstances which will be discussed more fully later in these reasons.

3.      Following his resignation from the NAB, Mr Carr was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which has been accepted as resulting from his service, together with a number of other conditions.

4.      In July 2006, Mr Carr also ceased his employment as a part-time lecturer and following his cessation of that employment he lodged an application for an increase in his disability pension[1].  In response to that application, the Repatriation Commission increased his pension to 90 percent of the general rate with effect from 26 July 2006[2]. 

[1] T8/54

[2] T15/95

5.      On 27 February 2007, Mr Carr applied for review of that decision by the Veterans’ Review Board (VRB)[3], seeking to be paid pension at the special rate, and on 16 March 2010, the VRB decided to affirm the Repatriation Commission’s decision[4].  Mr Carr has now applied to this tribunal for review of the decision of the Repatriation Commission, as affirmed by the VRB.

[3]…