Church and Repatriation Commission

[2010] AATA 1042

Administrative Appeals Tribunal

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2010] AATA 1042

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No  2009/4813

VETERANS’ APPEALS DIVISION		)
Re		STANLEY CHURCH

Applicant

And  REPATRIATION COMMISSION

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal  Senior Member Bernard J McCabe

Date 22 December 2010

Place Brisbane (heard in Townsville)

Decision  The Tribunal sets aside the decision under review and decides in substitution that the applicant has experienced a clinical worsening of his PTSD condition as a consequence of operational service. His major depression and alcohol abuse conditions are also linked to his service as a result. The matter should be remitted to the Commission for assessment with a date of effect of 14 October 2008.

...................[Sgd]...........................

Senior Member

CATCHWORDS

VETERANS’ COMPENSATION – post-traumatic stress disorder – depressive disorder – alcohol abuse disorder – whether applicant experienced clinical worsening as a result of operational service – claims of stressful events – historical discrepancies – decision set aside.

Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (Cth), s 120

Repatriation Commission v Milenz (2006) 93 ALD 107

REASONS FOR DECISION

22 December 2010 Senior Member Bernard J McCabe

1.      Stanley Church joined the Navy in 1963 when he was 15 years of age. He served aboard HMAS Melbourne when that ship collided with HMAS Voyager in 1964. He was still on the Melbourne when it collided with USS Frank E Evans in 1969. He developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the Voyager incident in particular. He subsequently developed major depressive disorder and alcohol abuse disorder.

2.      Mr Church is not eligible for a pension as a result of the Voyager and Evans incidents because they did not occur while he was on operational service. But Mr Church now points to three other incidents that he claims occurred while he was on operational service after the collisions. He said those events caused a clinical worsening of his existing PTSD condition. He has sought a pension under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (Cth) (“the Act”) on that basis.

The background facts

3.      Mr Church joined the Navy as a young man. He worked as a stoker. Most of his time was spent in the boiler room of the various ships on which he served. He was on the Melbourne the night that it collided with the Voyager. He took an active role in assisting the injured sailors who had been taken from the sea after the Voyager sank.  The events he described were clearly distressing. He gave evidence to the effect that he experienced sleeplessness, bad dreams and intrusive recollections for a period following the incident. He also began to drink. But he said he began to feel better after a while. He said his experience of the subsequent collision with the Frank E Evans was less distressing, if only because he was at work in the boiler room when the collision occurred and he did not have the opportunity to go on deck until many hours after the incident. He agreed that memories of the Voyager