Senator Mark Bishop asked the Minister representing the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, upon notice, on 10 December 2002:

(1) With reference to question on notice no. 744, how many of the successful claims have been brought to the attention of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and, in particular, the ADF Medical Service.

(2) What proportion of claims accepted were based on diagnoses of private medical practitioners.

(3) How many claims have been rejected.

(4) What is the current fortnightly tax free value of the Total and Permanent Incapacity Pension being paid.

(5) How many accepted claimants are also in receipt of service pension (invalidity).

(6) In the event that the Department of Defence is unaware of the payment of such pensions, to either serving or discharged personnel, is that pension additional to salary and/or superannuation payments.

Senator Hill (Minister for Defence) —The Minister for Veterans' Affairs has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The Department of Veterans' Affairs has not provided the Australian Defence Force with details of any individual who had service in East Timor and who has had a successful application for benefits under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) is bound by the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988. It would contravene the provisions of Information Privacy Principle (IPP) 11 for DVA to routinely provide claim information to the Department of Defence.

(2) The proportion of compensation claims under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 which provided a diagnosis by a private medical practitioner is not known and could only be obtained by an examination of individual files.

(3) 462 individuals who had service in East Timor have had disabilities rejected under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986. Some of these disabilities were claimed in respect of other periods of service. Many of those who have rejected disabilities have other disabilities accepted either in respect of East Timor service or other eligible periods of service.

(4) The current amount of the special rate of disability pension (known as the totally and permanently incapacitated rate) is $742.40 per fortnight which is tax free.

(5) 14 individuals who had service in East Timor are now receiving an invalidity service pension. This is not necessarily due to disabilities from service in East Timor.

(6) The special rate of disability pension is payable essentially only where service related incapacity limits the veteran's capacity for work to not more than 8 hours per week. Any salary or wage payments paid in respect of such limited work would have no impact on the payment of special rate pension. Salary payment reflecting any greater work capacity would debar the veteran from receiving special rate pension.

The special rate pension will be reduced by an actuarially determined amount whenever other parties, including Defence, also pay compensation for the same incapacity.

Any superannuation payment would be additional to any disability pension payable under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA).

With respect to invalid service pension or age service pension, income and assets tests apply and any income, assessable under the VEA, will affect the rate of pension payable. Disability pension is excluded from the income test. Periodic superannuation and salary payments are assessable income and would reduce service pension by forty cents for each dollar in excess of the income free area.