From: birddog
[birddog@smartchat.net.au]
Sent: Monday, 21 May 2007 7:26
PM
To: Harry Kirkman
Cc: Terry Fogarty; Bill Dobell; Allen
Petersen; rob.dehaas@eba.net.au; Barry Corse; BARRY SHARMAN; rick
ryan
Subject: Re: Letter to AAT President
G'day Harry,
Many thanks to you and Bill Dobell for the copy of Terry
Fogarty's recent letter to the President of the AAT.
Mere words are insufficient to express my admiration of
Terry's efforts on behalf of his fellow disabled veterans and our
families.
Sixteen years ago (during 1992) I wrote a forty five page
research document in which I clearly expressed the opinion that the
primary, secondary and tertiary phases of war veterans appeals (the
Veterans' Review Board, the Administrative
Appeals Tribunal and the Administrative Decisions
(Judicial Review) Branch of the Federal Court of Australia)
were all demonstrably and corruptly behaving with intentionally
adverse bias towards the cases of disabled war veteran
applicants.
I also stated that those veterans cases which were
eventually appealed into the High Court of Australia were invariably
overturned in favour of the applicant veterans under
the provisions of the legislation which existed at
that time.
I also expressed the opinion that, for that to happen,
logically indicated one of only two possible explanations:
ether
1. The three lower levels of
appeals (the VRB, the AAT
and the AD(JR) of
the Federal Court) were grossly
incompetent in their application of
the existing law
or
2. They were knowingly and intentionally biased
against the cases of each
applicant.
In other words, they were acting
corruptly.
The Veterans' Review Board is, and always has been, a
sub-branch of the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the
Federal Court of Australia are both sub-branches of the Federal
Attorney General.
Copies of my 1992 research document were posted via Reply
Receipted Certified Mail to the WA State Executive
and the National Executive of the four major
Australian ex-service organisations (RAAFA, TPI, R&SL,
VVAA).
They all actively avoided the issues which I had placed
before them!
For Terry Fogarty to now be writing a letter such as the one
attached indicates that nothing has changed for the better during the sixteen
years since I wrote my research document.
In the interim, the Federal Government has utilised the time
to enact repealing, amending or new legislation very carefully
designed to prevent the cases of disabled war veterans being won even if they
succeed in being appealed into the High Court of Australia.
It is my prediction that veterans of Australian conflicts
after the Vietnam era will experience a far more difficult time with their
disability claims than we Vietnam veterans have ever
experienced!
I applaud and support Terry Fogarty's letter to the President
of the AAT.
Regards to all,
Graham MacLeod TPI (OHSA Inspector,
retired)
Legal Liaison Officer
Veterans and Pensioners Advocacy
Western
Australia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 8:08 AM
Subject: FW: Letter to AAT
President
|
-------Original
Message-------
Date: 21/05/2007
09:46:35
Subject: FW: Letter
to AAT President
FYI
Very interesting
Bill D
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