Policy

Section 54(2) of the DRCA requires a claim to be in writing.

A claim for compensation under section 54 and the legislative provision stipulating the requirement for a claim to be made in writing is satisfied during the initial liability claim by the claimant i.e. lodgment of the D2020 claim form. Therefore any ancillary benefits i.e. incapacity or permanent impairment compensation can be claimed by a person without a further claim form or written request.

Subsequent claims for benefits

In Kennedy v Telstra Corporation Limited (1995), the applicant was assaulted at night while returning to the hotel where he was staying in the course of his employment. He contended that he would not have been injured but for his employment. The Federal Court rejected this proposition, discussing the required causal link in the following terms:

It is unlikely that any claim for compensation now received for a 1930 Act injury will meet the requirements of S16(1) that the claim be made before the client voluntarily left the employment of the Commonwealth and within six months of the occurrence of the accident. Accordingly it will usually be necessary to test whether the failure to make a claim in time was 'occasioned by mistake, absence from Australia or other reasonable cause'. See the relevant discussion of these phrases in relation to late notices under the 1930 Act at:

Whether an impairment is "serious and permanent" for the purposes of s 14(3) of the SRCA is a matter of fact and degree to be decided in the individual circumstances of each case. Two general observations may, however, be helpful:

S14(3) is directed to "impairment" and not to "incapacity for work". Assessors should ensure that the medical evidence addresses impairment and not incapacity for work;

The deeming provision in S53(3)(c) and S53(4(c) of the 1971 Act should be applied where the client's failure to give notice of injury resulted from:

• the death of the client, or some other person (e.g. depression arising from the loss of a spouse or child affected the client's capacity to attend properly to their personal affairs)
• absence from Australia of the client or some other person.

Delegates should be aware that a determination which accepts liability to pay compensation for an injury, disease etc. is an 'all or nothing' determination. The SRCA and its predecessors are 'no-fault' Acts and it is not possible to concede less than 100% liability on the basis that the client bear some of the 'fault' or that some other party was partly responsible for the injury.

The disease provisions of the 1971 Act are the least stringent of the three Acts. Section 29(1) of that Act requires only that '...any employment of the employee by the Commonwealth was a contributing factor to he contraction of the disease...'. As no minimum degree of contribution by employment is specified by that Act, this appears to be a very broad criterion.

Travel provisions under the 1971 Act are quite different in form to those under the SRCA. Travel during the currency of the 1971 Act is governed by Sections 32 to 36 of that Act.

Section 32:

The original intent of including the provision relating to temporary absence during an ordinary recess in the new 1988 Act was to cover the increasing number of lunch time sporting injuries which could be seen to be employment related to at least some extent. Prior to the introduction of the 1988 Act, establishing employment connection in these cases was administratively time consuming. As a result of this provision, injuries during an ordinary recess will be covered unless an exclusion applies (e.g. submission to an abnormal risk).

It is RCG policy that claims for alcoholism or other diseases arising out of the habitual consumption of alcohol or illicit drugs should not be entertained.

Habitual consumption of alcohol is not and never has been an ADF employment related factor. Excessive consumption of alcohol has no nexus with ADF employment. It is not something that the employer required the employee to do, nor is it reasonably incidental to such employment.