If a claimant does not fall within one of the listed categories of Defence Force personnel at the date of the injury, disease or loss, liability will be rejected on the basis that the claimant is not an ADF employee under the SRC Act. However, the claimant may possibly be a non-military employee of the Commonwealth or of a licensed corporation and therefore entitled to compensation as an 'employee' under the SRC Act.
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A person with operational, peacekeeping or hazardous service is entitled to compensation (Disability Compensation Payment and treatment) under the VEA for any disease or injury resulting from that service. This compensation scheme operates in a very beneficial manner because the VEA sets a low threshold for the onus of proof for determining whether a particular disease or injury has resulted from operational service (i.e. that a 'reasonable hypothesis' exists).
These two work areas within MRCC are inextricably linked. S36(1) of the SRCA states 'Where an employee suffers an injury resulting in an incapacity for work or an impairment, the rehabilitation authority may at any time, and shall on the written request of the employee, arrange for the assessment of the employee's capability of undertaking a rehabilitation program'.
The legislation enables people who are waiting to have a workers' compensation claim settled to claim Medicare and nursing home care benefits. To prevent 'double dipping', Medicare must be reimbursed all amounts of Medicare and nursing home care benefits, which a claimant has received in relation to his or her injury prior to liability for payment of compensation being admitted. Compensation administrators are obliged to meet significant reporting requirements under these arrangements.
In simple terms, when the MRCC proposes to pay a benefit to an employee with claims accepted under the DRCA (or its predecessors) and the VEA (and its predecessor), contact is made with the Disability Compensation Payment and if appropriate Income Support areas of the respective DVA State Office.
Standard Letters are available for this purpose.
Section 5(3) of the DRC Act provides that the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs can extend coverage under the DRC Act to certain other persons associated with the Defence Force. Section 5(3) states:
5(3) The Minister may, by legislative instrument, declare:
(a) that persons specified in the declaration, being persons who:
The Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 (DRCA) contains provisions preventing a veteran, or dependant, from being compensated from more than one source for the same injury, disease or death.
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