Stevens and Repatriation Commission (Veterans' entitlements)

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision by the Veterans’ Review Board (VRB), which affirmed the Repatriation Commission’s refusal to accept the applicant’s Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as service-related. The applicant, Ronald Frederick Stevens, served in the Royal Australian Navy and had eligible operational service in Vietnam waters. He also witnessed the harrowing collision between HMAS Melbourne and USS Frank E Evans in 1969, an incident that occurred outside his period of eligible service but was accepted as the original cause of his PTSD.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether a diagnosis of PTSD was present, whether that PTSD was war-caused by reference to the applicable Statement of Principles, and if so, what the appropriate rate of pension should be. The parties agreed that a diagnosis of PTSD was not in dispute and that the original cause of the PTSD was the Melbourne-Evans collision.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant's PTSD was war-caused, considering the Statement of Principles concerning Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The applicant contended that while the Melbourne-Evans collision was the origin of his PTSD, his subsequent service on HMAS Sydney in Vietnam had been the major factor in reinforcing this trauma. The Tribunal noted that the diagnosis of PTSD and its original cause were not in dispute, focusing the determination on whether the condition was war-caused in accordance with the relevant legislative framework.