Report 20 - Review of Pension Decisions under Repatriation Legislation 1983

Review of Pension Decisions under Repatriation Legislation, 1983

Summary of the report

The report was transmitted to the Government on 16 September 1983, and was tabled in the Parliament on 16 November 1983.

The report contains 21 recommendations. The Council's primary recommendation was that the repatriation jurisdiction currently vested in the Repatriation Review Tribunal be absorbed into the Administrative Appeal Tribunal's ('AAT') jurisdiction.

Response to the report

The Council's report was substantially implemented by the Repatriation Legislation Amendment Act 1984. The Act provided for abolition of Repatriation Boards, and the Repatriation Review Tribunal, and set up a new two-tier system of external review consisting of the Veterans' Review Board ('VRB') and the AAT. Two of the Council's recommendations were not implemented: the first relating to the provision of automatic referral to the VRB where entitlement claims or applications for pension increases were rejected; and, the second, that applicants for service pensions be granted the same appeal rights as claimants for other repatriation pensions.