These procedures outline the requirements to be met in order for statutory declarations to be considered as evidence in the assessment of applications for Tier classification made by F-111 workers.
A statutory declaration is a written statement declared to be true in the presence of an authorised witness. You must use the form of statutory declaration that complies with the requirements of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 and the Statutory Declarations Regulations 1993.
Electronic copies of the forms which must be used, and information about using statutory declarations, can be found on the Attorney General's website http://www.ag.gov.au/statdec [4], or printed copies can be obtained from your local DVA office.
In order for the information in a statutory declaration to be accepted as evidence for F111 applications, it must be:
Where the claimant cannot provide a supporting statutory declaration the claims assessors should still conduct a thorough investigation into the statements made in the first statutory declaration and also the reasons as to why a second declaration cannot be provided.
At all times assessors should show sensitivity to the applicants and seek to be inclusive in their determinations, giving all applicants sufficient opportunity and support to have their claims accepted.
A statutory declaration made by a person claiming F-111 benefits should include the following information:
A supporting statutory declaration made by an authorised person should include the following information:
An authorised person is:
When applications for Tier status classification are being determined all of the evidence available is considered and the decision maker must be satisfied that on the balance of probability, the available evidence satisfies the eligibility criteria.
Primary and secondary evidence is given the highest weighting. If official records are not available or provide insufficient evidence to make a determination, statutory declarations may be considered in the decision making process.
The weighting of evidence may be affected where evidence is found that contradicts the claims made.
The evidence used in the decision making process (order of weighting is from
highest to lowest) includes:
1. Primary evidence – sourced from official Air Force (or other employer) records:
2. Secondary evidence sourced from:
3. Tertiary evidence:
Two statutory declarations which provide information supporting eligibility are taken as evidence in the administrative decision making process. Where primary or secondary evidence is found which contradicts the evidence provided in the statutory declarations, the competing evidence will be considered.
It should be noted that the provision of two statutory declarations does not automatically result in the end of the investigation process. The eligibility assessment team must still investigate the claim, which includes attempting to source primary and secondary evidence, or otherwise, of the person's eligibility. The investigations team will make every effort to verify information contained in statutory declarations.
The content of the two statutory declarations will be subject to a test of plausibility in the same way that other evidence is assessed. It should be noted that as a result of this testing, contrary evidence may emerge.
A person who wilfully makes a false statement in a statutory declaration is guilty of an offence and may be fined or jailed, or both.
All claims where evidence suggests a person has deliberately made a false statement by statutory declaration will be referred to the DVA Compliance Section for further investigation.
Links
[1] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20964%23comment-form
[2] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20987%23comment-form
[3] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20975%23comment-form
[4] http://www.ag.gov.au/statdec
[5] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20995%23comment-form
[6] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20985%23comment-form
[7] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/21000%23comment-form
[8] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20978%23comment-form
[9] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20974%23comment-form
[10] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20991%23comment-form
[11] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20994%23comment-form
[12] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20962%23comment-form
[13] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/20986%23comment-form