Policy

Cigarette Smoking Questionnaire - SRCA

Section 29 of the 1971 Act is entirely analogous to Subsection 7(1) of the SRCA. It also 'deems' the employee's disease to have been caused by employment if:

1. it is listed in the Schedule to that Act, and

2. he/she was ever exposed to the corresponding substance or conditions in Commonwealth employment.

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).  

DI(G) PERS 14-2 dated 9 June 2005 “Australian Defence Force (ADF) Policy on Sport” states that:

Defence personnel who are authorised to participate in sport within the terms of this instruction are authorised as “on duty”, subject to any applicable exclusions.  It should be noted, however, that the authorisation of “on duty” status does not guarantee compensation coverage.

The DI(G) covers:

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.

Use of the liability module is mandatory for all SRCA cases. Failure to run the Liability Module for such cases is an error for Quality Assurance purposes.

1.In Wheeler and Reserve Bank of Australia (1989), the Tribunal considered that certain action was not reasonable, noting that 'after 15 years of employment, and without any prior notice, the applicant was required to report for duty on a day on which officers of the bank knew he would be unavailable. The consequences of non-attendance were not even mentioned in the letter'.

Under the 1971 and 1930 Acts, actions against third parties where successful, also affected compensation entitlements but to a different degree.

• RAAF contribution included 10 Lincoln bombers based at Woomera and Richmond for air sampling, 2 Dakotas based at Woomera for ground contamination surveys, and air and ground crew support (6.0.16).  The home base for these aircraft was at Amberley (6.0.17).
• RAF Totem contribution: 1 Canberra aircraft to do cloud sample ASAP after detonation (6.5.39).  This flew to/from Woomera (6.5.41).  There were extensive precautions to prevent contamination of the aircrew (6.5.51).   It flew through the Totem 1 cloud 6 minutes after detonation (6.5.

1.In Fitzgerald and Comcare (1995), failure to obtain a promotion was a factor contributing to a stress-related illness, however the 'predominant factor' was an unsubstantiated allegation of fraud by an ex-supervisor.