Collins and Repatriation Commission

[2008] AATA 351

Administrative Appeals Tribunal

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2008] AATA 351

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No N2006/333

VETERANS' APPEALS DIVISION		)
Re		JUNE COLLINS

Applicant

And REPATRIATION COMMISSION

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Senior Member Bernard J McCabe and Mr S E Frost, Member

Date2 May 2008

PlaceBrisbane (heard in Sydney)

Decision The Tribunal affirms the decision under review.

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

Senior Member

CATCHWORDS

VETERANS' ENTITLEMENTS – war widow's pension – "kind of death" – whether death war – caused – decision affirmed

Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, ss 6A, 7, 13(1), 120(1), 120(3), 120A(1), 120A(3), 120A(4)

Byrnes v Repatriation Commission [1993] HCA 51; (1993) 177 CLR 564

Repatriation Commission v Hancock [2003] FCA 711; (2003) 37 AAR 383

Repatriation Commission v Codd [2007] FCA 877; (2007) 95 ALD 619

Repatriation Commission v Deledio [1998] FCA 391; (1998) 83 FCR 82

REASONS FOR DECISION

2 May 2008 Senior Member Bernard J McCabe and Mr S E Frost, Member                  

Introduction

1.      Mrs June Collins, the applicant, is the widow of Mr Donald Collins, the veteran.  The veteran died on 30 March 2005 at the age of 83.  Mrs Collins claimed a war widow's pension on the basis that her husband's death was war-caused.  The Repatriation Commission (“the Commission”) refused the claim and the Veterans’ Review Board affirmed that refusal.  Mrs Collins has applied to the Tribunal for a review of that refusal decision. 

2.      There are only two issues in dispute before the Tribunal.  The first is the "kind of death" suffered by the veteran.  The second is whether there is a connection between that kind of death and his war service.

3.      For the reasons that follow, we affirm the decision under review.  This means that Mrs Collins’ appeal is unsuccessful.

The veteran’s service history

4. The veteran served in the Royal Australian Air Force from 30 January 1943 until 18 January 1946 and this constitutes eligible war service as defined in s 7 of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 ("the Act"). Because he served overseas during World War II, the whole of his service constitutes operational service within s 6A of the Act.

Entitlement to a war widow’s pension

5. If the veteran’s death was war-caused, then the Commonwealth is liable to pay a pension by way of compensation to the applicant: s 13(1) of the Act. We must determine whether the death was war-caused having regard to ss 120 and 120A of the Act.

6. It is clear from these provisions, read together, that we must first determine the "kind of death" of the veteran before we consider the reasonableness of any hypothesis connecting the death with the circumstances of his war service. This is because the way in which we must test the reasonableness of any hypothesis depends on whether there is in force any Statement of Principles (“SoP”), determined by the Repatriation Medical Authority, in relation to the “kind of death” met by the veteran. If there is one, or more than one,…