Section 6(b)(vii) covers travel between place of work or place of residence for a number of purposes, most related to the operation of the Act. The actual form of the provision is:
6(1) Without limiting the circumstances in which an injury to an employee may be treated as having arisen out of, or in the course of, his or her employment, an injury shall, for the purposes of this Act, be treated as having so arisen if it was sustained:
b) while the employee:
(vii) was travelling between his or her place of work or place of residence and any other place for the purpose of:
a) obtaining a medical certificate for the purposes of this Act
b) receiving medical treatment for an injury
c) undergoing a rehabilitation program provided under this Act
d) receiving a payment of compensation under this Act
e) undergoing a medical examination or rehabilitation assessment in accordance with a requirement made under this Act, or
f) receiving money due to the employee under the terms of his or her employment, being money that, under the terms of that employment or any agreement or arrangement between the employee and the Commonwealth or a licensed corporation, is available, or reasonably expected by the employee to be available, for collection at that place, or
(vii) was at a place for a purpose referred to in subparagraph (vii).
Particular difficulties can arise where the member was injured while travelling to an appointment and was unable to attend the appointment because of the accident. Every effort should be made to obtain independent verification of the purpose of the travel, e.g. by investigating whether:
Ultimately, the Delegate must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the purpose of the visit was one of the purposes listed in S6(1)(b)(vii) of the SRCA.
Links
[1] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=node/20174%23comment-form
[2] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=node/20517%23comment-form