12.3.2 Condition relates to service on or after the 1 July 2004

The condition must relate to defence service rendered on or after 1 July 2004 (see 3.2 of Chapter 3: Liability).  However, it is not necessary for the condition to relate solely to defence service rendered on or after 1 July 2004.  The MRCA will also apply to a condition that relates to defence service rendered before 1 July 2004, but only if the condition also relates to defence service rendered on or after 1 July 2004.  In other words, the MRCA will apply if clinical onset relates to service before and on or after 1 July 2004.  Defence service taken into account can span 1 July 2004 or be rendered during separate periods (including periods of service separated by a period of non-service).

Example 1:

On 19 May 2006 a former member submits a claim for pleural mesothelioma.  The former member enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1963 and was medically discharged on 14 March 2006.  He first began to suffer symptoms such as shortness of breath, coughing and chest pain in around 2005.  The condition was diagnosed on 25 November 2005 following a thoracoscopy.  The former member claims h — is condition arose out of exposure to asbestos whilst serving at sea during the 1960s.  The delegate determines on the balance of probabilities that the date of clinical onset of pleural mesothelioma was after the 1 July 2004.  Although the former member has rendered defence service after 1 July 2004, defence service after that date does not relate to h — is condition.  Therefore, the MRCA would not apply to the former member's condition because the condition only relates to service rendered before the 1 July 2004.

Example 2:

On 7 October 2005 a former member submits a claim for right rotator cuff syndrome (RCS).  The former member enlisted in the Army on 25 April 2002 and was medically discharged on 13 November 2005.  The delegate confers with the DMO, and from the service documents establishes the date of clinical onset to be 9 August 2005.  The delegate notes the former member contends that his RCS arose out of participati — on in regular battle training spanning his entire period of service and the evidence on file supports this contention.  The MRCA does apply to the former member's condition because it occurred after the 1 July 2004 and relates to defence service rendered  on or after 1 July 2004.  It does not matter that condition also relates to defence service rendered before 1 July 2004 – the MRCA still applies.