Federal Court of Australia
Repatriation Commission v. Cannon
Appeal from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Before Spender J
Heard - 6 February 1990 - Brisbane
Order - 6 February 1990 - Brisbane
Appeal allowed
On 9 July 1981 Mr Cannon made a claim for pension in respect of incapacity from "hypertension and heart problems, severe stomach problems". A Repatriation Board rejected the claim on 4 March 1982. On 12 December1983, Mr Cannon appealed that decision to the Commission under section 28 of the Repatriation Act 1920. Under section 52 of the Repatriation Legislation Amendment Act 1984, on or after 1 January 1985 that appeal was to be determined by the Veterans' Review Board. The Board completed its review of the matter on 21 October 1987, and affirmed the rejection of the claim. Mr Cannon applied to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of that decision. On 11 October 1989, the Tribunal set aside the decision under review and substituted its decision that hypertension and coronary heart disease were war-caused diseases and that the determination was to operate from and including 9 April 1981.
The Commission appealed this decision to the Federal Court of Australia on the ground that the Tribunal had erred in law in selecting 9 April 1981 as the operative date for its decision and had failed to take into account the provisions of section 21 of the Veterans' Entitlements (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 1986 which provided:
21. (1) Where a decision is made by the Commission, the Board or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal under the Veterans' Entitlements Act, other than a decision referred to in subsection (1A), granting a pension, increasing or reducing the rate of a pension or granting an allowance or another pecuniary benefit, a date, which may be a date before the commencing date, may be fixed, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Veterans' Entitlements Act, as the date as from which payment of the pension, payment of the pension at the increased or reduced rate or payment of the allowance or other benefit is approved.
(1A) Where:
(a) a decision is made by the Commission, the Board or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in this subsection called the determining body under the Veterans' Entitlements Act to grant a pension, to increase or reduce the rate of a pension or to grant an allowance or other pecuniary benefit; and
(b) the determining body, would not have had power to make that decision but for the operation of a provision of this Act whether that provision conferred power on the determining body directly or indirectly;
then a date, which may be a date before the commencement date, may, subject to subsection (3), be fixed as the date from which payment of a pension at a reduced or increased rate or payment of an allowance or other benefit is approved.
(2) For the purpose of the application of sub-section (1)-
(a) any decision of the Board to which section 107VY of the Repatriation Act applied immediately before the commencing date; and
(b) any decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to which section 107VZZ of the Repatriation Act so applied, shall continue to be binding on the parties to the proceedings for the remainder of the period for which it was binding under that section.
(3) The date which may be fixed under subsection (1A) in relation to a decision referred to in that subsection is:
(a) where the initiating action in relation to the decision was the making of an application as mentioned in paragraph (h) of the definition of 'initiating action' in subsection (5)-the date of that initiating action; or
(b) in any other case-a date that is not earlier than 3 months before the date of the initiating action in relation to the decision.
(4) For the purposes of the application of the Veterans' Entitlements Act pursuant to this section, section 19 of that Act has effect as if the reference, in the definition of "assessment period" in subsection 19(9) of that Act, to the period starting on the application day were a reference to the period starting on the date of the initiating action in relation to the decision concerned.
(5) In this section:
"initiating action", in relation to a decision mentioned in subsection (1A), means whichever of the following events and actions operated, whether of its own force or because of another provision, to confer power to make the decision on the person or body that made it or, where 2 or more of the following events and actions so operated, the later or latest of those events or actions:
(a) the making of a claim or application to which subsection 51(1) or (2) of the 1984 Act applied;
(b) the institution of an appeal to which section 52 of the 1984 Act applied;
(c) the making of an application to which subsection 55 (1) of the 1984 Act applied, or of an application permitted to be made by subsection 55 (2) of the 1984 Act;
(d) the submission of further evidence with respect to a claim as mentioned in section 107VM of the Repatriation Act 1920 as in force immediately before 1 January 1985, being a claim to which subsection 57(1) of the 1984 Act applied;
(e) the making of an application permitted to be made by subsection 57(2) of the 1984 Act;
(f) the directing of a review to which subsection 58 (1) of the 1984 Act applied;
(g) the reference of an assessment back to the Commission under section 107VH of the Repatriation Act 1920 as in force on or after 1 January 1985 which resulted in:
(i) a review referred to in subsection 18 (1) of this Act;
(ii) an application referred to in subsection 19 (1) or (2) of this Act; or
(iii) an application made under subsection 20 (1) or (9) of this Act;
(h) the making of a claim or application under the Repatriation Act 1920 as in force on or after 1 January 1985;
"the 1984 Act" means the Repatriation Legislation Amendment Act 1984.
The Commission was represented by -----, instructed by the Australian Government Solicitor.
Mr Cannon was represented by ------
Bruce Topperwien
By consent, the following order was handed down in Brisbane on 6 February 1990 -
SPENDER J. THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1. The appeal be allowed;
2. The decision of the Administartive Appeals Tribunal dated 11 October, 1989 whereby the Tribunal decided that:
A. The decision of the Veterans' Review Board dated 21 October 1987 be set aside;
B. The respondent's "Hypertension" is war-caused;
C. The respondent's "Coronary Heart Disease" is war-caused;
D. The matter be remitted to the applicant for further consideration in terms of the Tribunal's decision that the Respondent's hypertension and coronary heart disease are war-caused; and
E. Its determination is to operate from and including 9 April 1981;
BE VARIED by deleting from paragraph E thereof "9 April 1981" and inserting instead "12 September, 1983" as the operative date.
3. There be no order as to costs.