EDWARD ALLEN WEST and REPATRIATION COMMISSION

Administrative Appeals Tribunal

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2009] AATA 935

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No 2007/6088

VETERANS'       APPEALS        DIVISION		)
Re		EDWARD ALLEN WEST

Applicant

And REPATRIATION COMMISSION

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Mr Egon Fice, Member  

Date4 December 2009

PlaceMelbourne

Decision The Tribunal affirms the decision under review.

(sgd) Egon Fice

Member

VETERANS’ AFFAIRS ‑ disability pension – operational service in Vietnam – diagnoses ‑ post traumatic stress disorder – depressive disorder – alcohol abuse –- whether war-caused

Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986

Mines v Repatriation Commission [2004] FCA 1331

Benjamin v Repatriation Commission (2001) 34 AAR 270

Repatriation Commission v Cooke (1998) 90 FCR 307

Repatriation Commission v Budworth (2001) 116 FCR 200

Repatriation Commission v Hill (2002) 69 ALD 581

Repatriation Commission v Smith (1987) 15 FCR 327

REASONS FOR DECISION

4 December 2009 Mr Egon Fice, Member       

1.      Mr Edward West was conscripted into the Australian Army for national service in 1970.  After basic training, he completed further training with the Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC) and was then posted to 18 Transport Company as a driver.  After completing the battle efficiency course at Canungra, Mr West was posted to Vietnam, arriving there on 2 June 1971.  He served in Vietnam with 86 Transport Platoon until 7 December 1971, when he returned to Australia.  His period of service in Vietnam was in an operational area, as that term is described in Schedule 2 of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act1986 (the VE Act) and therefore constitutes operational service as that term is defined in the VE Act.

2.      Mr West lodged an application with the Department of Veterans Affairs on 7 April 2006 claiming a disability pension because he suffered post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of his operational service.  On 4 September 2006 a delegate of the Repatriation Commission (the Commission) determined that the appropriate medical diagnoses in respect of Mr West’s claim were:

(a)post traumatic stress disorder;

(b)Depressive Disorder (single episode); and

(c)alcohol dependence

3.      The Commission rejected Mr West’s claim and he sought review of the decision by the Veterans’ Review Board (VRB).  In a decision made on 27 November 2007, the VRB affirmed the Commission’s decision.  It found that Mr West did not suffer from PTSD and that his alcohol dependence and depressive disorder (single episode) were not war-caused.  Mr West now seeks review of the VRB decision by this Tribunal. 

4.      The issues which I must determine are:

(a)whether Mr West suffers from PTSD, depressive disorder and alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse; and

(b)if Mr West suffers from any of the conditions referred to in (a), whether those conditions were war-caused.

DIAGNOSIS

post traumatic stress disorder

5.      When approaching the question of diagnosis where the claim involves PTSD, the process must be different to other veterans’ cases.  This is because the presence of the claimed disease is dependent upon whether the person has experienced a traumatic event of the kind set out in Criterion…