Decided: 23 April 1999 by Sundberg J

Entitlement - Statement of Principles - meaning of "inability to obtain appropriate clinical management" - s119(1)(h) VE Act - required to take into account difficulties that lie in the way of ascertaining the existence of any fact, matter, cause or circumstance - whether includes modern diagnostic techniques - appeal dismissed

Decided: 22 April 1999 by Sundberg J

Entitlement - Statement of Principles - malignant neoplasm of the colon - smoking - factor required at least 30 pack years consumed 30 years or more before the clinical onset - meaning of factor - smoking in period uup to 30 years before clincial onset is irrelevant - only smoking more than 30 years before onset was relevant - no evidence on which AAT could have come to its conclusion - clinical onset was when veteran was first sick from the disease - appeal from AAT allowed - pension refused

Decided: 19 April 1999 by O'Connor, Branson, and Marshall JJ

Entitlement - medical experts differ on possibility of smoking contributing to calcific aortic stenosis - whether open to Tribunal to form opinion that material did not raise a reasonable hypothesis connecting smoking to calcific aortic stenosis - natural justice - apprehension of bias - whether fair minded observer might apprehend that a Tribunal member who had also sat in prior hearing had pre-judged applicant's case which had been remitted for re-hearing - procedural fairness - whether Tribunal had denied applicant procedural fairness by referring to medical texts which were not raised at hearing - appeal dismissed

Decided: 1 April 1999 by Burchett, Branson, and Nicholson JJ

Entitlement - Statements of Principles - hypothesis including sub-hypothesis - McKenna approved - no SoP in force at date of claim - SoP in force at date of hearing must uphold a hypothesis before it can be said to be reasonable - appeal dismissed

Decided: 29 March 1999 by Branson, Sundberg and Kenny JJ

Entitlement - Statements of Principles - hypothesis including sub-hypothesis - each sub-hypothesis required to be supported by a Statement of Principles - appeal dismissed

Decided: 22 March 1999 by Hely J

Entitlement - whether a member of a couple - appeal dismissed

Decided: 2 March 1999 by Spender J

Assessment - general rate of pension - whether special rate, intermediate rate, or extreme disablement adjustment applied - no error of law pointed to - nature of the Court's jurisdiction - appeal dismissed

FULL TEXT

Decided: 26 February 1999 by Burchett, Nicholson and Finkelstein JJ

Entitlement - Statement of Principles regarding psychoactive substance abuse and dependence - whether definition met - whether maladaptive pattern of use - appeal dismissed

FULL TEXT

Decided: 24 February 1999 by O'Loughlin J

Whether applicant is a "veteran" within the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 s 5C(1) - employed by United States PX in Vietnam - whether appointed or enlisted as a member of the defence force established by an allied country - whether subsection 5R(2) applies - appeal dismissed

Decided: 5 February 1999 by Sackville J

Whether applicant had "qualifying service" within the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 s 7A(1) - service in naval vessel in Malayan waters 1954-55 - war service home loan granted before 1990 - effect of Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment Act 1990 s 93(1) - issue not decided by AAT - not appropriate for Federal Court to decide the issue if not considered by AAT - remitted to AAT for reconsideration

FULL TEXT

Decided: 28 January 1999 by Einfeld, Carr & Lehane JJ

Entitlement - disability pension - appeal from decision of this court at first instance overturning decision of Administrative Appeals Tribunal which set aside decision of Veterans' Review Board that applicant's disease was not "war-caused" - whether applicant had "operational service" within the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 s 6(1) - at a time between 14 June and 18 June 1943 while travelling by boat between Caloundra and Townsville applicant outside Australian territorial waters - whether the Tribunal fell into error in its understanding of material facts and relevant law - "operational service" - "war-caused disease" - "essential character"

Decided: 23 December 1998 by French, Drummond & Carr JJ

Entitlement - whether veteran suffered from the disease of anxiety state - standard of proof - whether that issue to be decided by applying the reverse criminal standard or the civil standard of proof.

Decided: 19 November 1998 by Lehane J

Entitlement to treatment - application to review decision to refuse to issue "Gold Card" to applicant - whether to distinguish between those who had served in allied forces on the ground of domicile at the time of enlistment was to discriminate on the ground of race, descent or national or ethnic origin - whether s 10(1) of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 overrides the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 - whether a right to services provided under Pt V of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 is a fundamental right of a kind protected by the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 or the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Decided: 5 November 1998 by Tamberlin, Finn & Marshall JJ

Entitlement - whether veteran's histiocytosis was war-caused - whether evidence pointed to a reasonable hypothesis that death resulted from smoking caused by war service - whether AAT failed to take into account relevant considerations or took into account irrelevant considerations - whether proper for AAT to evaluate evidence - VE Act, ss 120(1) & (3)

Decided: 3 November 1998 by Tamberlin J

Entitlement to pension - whether dependant - whether partner of veteran at time of his death - whether member of a couple - whether in marriage-like relationship - whether absence resulting from veteran's illness - VE Act, ss 5E, 11 & 11A

Decided: 20 October 1998 by Heerey J

Jurisdiction - review by AAT of decisions of VRB and Repatriation Commission as to assessment application and entitlement claim by veteran - entitlement claim remitted to Commission - assessment application adjourned to be heard together with review of another entitlement claim - whether AAT functus officio - meaning of "liberty to apply" - AD(JR) Act

Decided: 9 October 1998 by Weinberg J

Entitlement - war widow's claim for pension - Northern Territory service during WW2 - finding by AAT that deceased had not rendered operational service - whether Tribunal could review or depart from findings by Repatriation Commission and affirmed by VRB - nature of hearing before Tribunal - whether Commission estopped from raising before Tribunal a finding previously conceded by it - test for determining whether operational service rendered - standard of proof to be applied

Decided: 28 September 1998 by O'Loughlin J

Whether dependant of deceased veteran - divorced veteran - claimed that she should have been treated as still living with veteran at time of death - appeal dismissed.

[oral judgment given]