Bushell v Repatriation Commission [1992] HCA 47

High Court of Australia Mason C.J. Brennan, Deane, Dawson, Toohey and McHugh JJ. Bushell v Repatriation Commission [1992] HCA 47

ORDER Appeal allowed with costs. Set aside the order of the Full Court of the Federal Court and in lieu thereof order that the appeal to that Court be dismissed with costs.

Cur. adv vult.

The following written judgments were delivered:—

Oct. 7 Mason C.J., Deane and McHugh JJ.

The question in this appeal is whether the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Veterans' Appeals Division) misdirected itself in holding that no reasonable hypothesis connected the essential hypertension of the appellant with an anxiety state arising from the circumstances of his war service. The Tribunal accepted that essential hypertension "is a form of hypertension for which there is no organic explanation and the cause of which is unknown". The Tribunal held that "the hypothesis of stress as contributing to the onset of essential hypertension is not reasonably based". An appeal to the Federal Court against the decision of the Tribunal was allowed by Wilcox J. on two grounds: (a) that the evidence which the Tribunal accepted did not support its finding; (b) that the Tribunal had failed to deal with an alternative case advanced by the appellant which claimed a relationship between his war-caused alcoholism and his hypertension. His Honour ordered that the matter be remitted to the Tribunal for a rehearing. An appeal against his order was allowed by a majority of the Full Court of the Federal Court (Morling and Neaves JJ., Davies J. dissenting). The majority ordered that the claim of the appellant should be reheard only in respect of the second of the two grounds which Wilcox J. had upheld.

The legislation

Section 13(1) of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 Cth provides: