Policy

From September 2017, smoking policy has been updated. The changes are as follows:

Employees are prevented by S4 — 4 of the SRCA from suing the Commonwealth in lieu of claiming workers compensation for post-1988 injuries. Note that other Commonwealth employees are also protected from legal actions by S4 — 4 unless acting illegally or not in accordance with their contract of employment.

The entry under 'aggravation' at Section 4 of the SRCA says only:

includes acceleration or recurrence

Aggravation is not separately defined by either the 1971 Act or the 1930 Act, but the above SRCA definition certainly describes the manner in which the term is used for those Acts.

A successive claim is where a claimant lodges a new claim for a condition that has already been assessed under the same Act.  On receipt of a claim, the Delegate should first search Defcare and ISH to ensure the claim for that injury is not being submitted for a second or subsequent time. Where liability for an injury has already been denied, the next step would usually be a request for reconsideration and appeal to the AAT or ART (for claims determined prior to 21 April 2025) or an appeal to the VRB (for claims determined after 21 April 2025).  

SOP factors are sometimes of interest to RCG Delegates, in that these protocols outline what factors are generally to be considered when diagnosis is to be made. On occasion, a DRCA Delegate may at their discretion use these documents to form a view whether further questions need to be asked of an examining doctor (i.e. with regard to the reliability of a diagnosis). However, sections of these protocols are very specific to VEA/MRCA needs and non-compliance in the case of an DRCA case need not, in most cases, be cause for concern.

For declared diseases a connection is assumed, where the relevant requirements are met. Note there still needs to be evidence that the claimant's employment in the ADF involved exposure to the particular substance etc listed and they have met the relevant employment period – once this is demonstrated the disease should be accepted under the Act, unless there is evidence to prove to the contrary.

The table of current declared diseases is at Appendix 2.

In those cases where smoking is identified as a causal factor by the claimant when submitting their claim, or if medical evidence suggests that a history of smoking contributed to the development of the claimed condition, Delegates should request that claimants complete the “Cigarette Smoking Questionnaire” found at CLIK 26.7.5 which has been approved for use specifically in the assessment of DR

Section 53(1) and (2) of the SRCA require an employee to give notice in writing of an injury or loss of property as soon as practicable after the employee becomes aware of the injury and provided that the Act does not apply in relation to the injury or loss if this requirement is not met.