A veteran has lost his battle for special entitlements after claiming his morbid obesity was related to the drinking culture he experienced during his service with the Royal Australian Air Force at Laverton and overseas.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia heard that after the veteran suffered an injury and became depressed, he said “it was nothing” for him to drink 24 stubbies in one night.
Star Weekly has chosen not to name the man, who believes he has had post-traumatic stress disorder and depression since a helicopter incident and continues to receive treatment.
The man, who served from 1974 to 1994, sought a review of the Veterans’ Review Board decision that his morbid obesity and hypertension were not related to service and he was not entitled to a special rate of pension.
The tribunal heard that the man, who is 178 centimetres tall, weighed 131 kilograms when he was assessed last July.
Prior to enlisting, the man said he would only drink at family gatherings.
During his 10-week recruitment course, he would spend his free time, six nights a week, at a recruits’ tavern, where he would drink at least six schooners of beer followed by a shot of rum.
He said his drinking decreased when he was posted at Laverton but increased after he was posted to Malaysia, where “it was nothing” to drink 24 stubbies in one night while playing cards.
In the original decision, the Repatriation Commission contended that a veteran’s service must be more than merely “the setting” in which they take up or increase drinking or smoking and “the culture of drinking is not itself sufficient”.
The tribunal accepted that the man’s exposure to alcohol increased once on service but said it was not a requirement of service or something that arose out of his employment with the service.
The tribunal ruled that there was no causal connection.
