Yates and Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (Compensation)

This matter concerned an application to review a decision by the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission regarding liability for the applicant's osteoarthritis of the left hip and lumbar spondylosis. The applicant served in the Royal Australian Air Force between July 2001 and November 2004. He claimed that heavy lifting during his service contributed to these conditions, first noticing symptoms of lower back pain in 2005 and hip pain in 2014, with medical treatment sought in 2008 and 2015 respectively.

The court was required to determine when the applicant was "taken to have sustained" his lumbar spondylosis and osteoarthritis of the left hip, and whether these conditions were contributed to, to a significant degree, by his Commonwealth employment. A key issue was whether the applicant's reported pain during service constituted an "impairment" as defined by the Act, which requires loss of use, damage, or malfunction of a bodily part or system.

The court reasoned that while the applicant experienced some back pain during service, this pain alone did not meet the definition of impairment under the Act. Citing *Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission v Katterns*, the court held that pain is not of itself an impairment. As there was no evidence of incapacity for work due to these conditions prior to 2008, and therefore no impairment before that date, the definition of disease under section 5B of the Act applied. Although medical evidence suggested service may have accelerated the onset of these degenerative diseases, the court found that the conditions did not meet the definition of disease under section 5B of the Act. Consequently, the Commonwealth was not liable to pay compensation.

The decision under review was affirmed.