9.10.5 Recovery of treatment costs (s93)

Under section 93 of the VEA the Commission recovers treatment costs paid by the Department where a person receives compensation from another source, and bars claims for future treatment at Departmental expense for that condition. While the wording in the section is discretionary, Commission policy is to recover under s93 in all applicable cases (except for the abuse victim exemption explained below)

Section 93 ensures equity. It would not be equitable for a claimant to receive compensation under DVA legislation for a condition and also receive compensation from another source for the same condition, when another claimant with a similar condition may only have access to compensation under DVA legislation and no access to other compensation from another source.

Exemption for Sexual or Physical Abuse Cases

Section 93 of the VEA is not to be applied in cases where the client was a victim of physical or sexual abuse within the ADF.

This is because these clients, due to the difficulty of obtaining statutory compensation for their abuse, had no choice but to seek common law damages, and should not be penalised for this state of affairs.

As such, we would neither recover already paid treatment costs, nor bar future treatment at Departmental expense, for these conditions for these clients.

It is noted and understood that this creates a situation where survivors of sexual or physical abuse within the ADF with eligibility under the VEA retain access to treatment under this Act where they receive compensation from another source, while otherwise identical abuse survivors with eligibility under the MRCA or DRCA would not.

The following table represents the proposed treatment recovery framework across the three Acts.