Turner and Repatriation Commission (Veterans' entitlements)

Turner and the Repatriation Commission were parties to a dispute concerning the lodgement of an application for review of a decision regarding a disability pension. The matter came before Deputy President McDermott of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had lodged their application for review within the time prescribed by the relevant legislation. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the application was lodged more than 12 months after the applicant was furnished with the decision of the Veterans' Review Board, and whether the Veterans' Review Board had indeed provided that decision to the applicant.

Deputy President McDermott reasoned that the application for review was lodged out of time. Applying the provisions of section 176(4) of the *Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986* and sections 29(1)-(2) and (7) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975*, the Tribunal found that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the application because it had not been filed within the statutory timeframe. The Tribunal's decision was based on the applicant's failure to meet the time limit for lodging the review application.