4.20 War veterans' matters

Legal aid is available to war veterans or their dependants in the following types of matters:

• appeals from decisions of the Veterans' Review Board about war-caused disability pension entitlement or assessment claims under Part II of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1988;
• appeals from decisions of the Veterans' Review Board about claims under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (Cth) that relate to warlike or non-warlike service in relation to:
  • acceptance of liability (Chapter 2),
  • rehabilitation programs (Chapter 3, Part 2),
  • permanent impairment (Chapter 4, Part 2),
  • incapacity payments for former members (Chapter 4, Part 4),
  • special rate disability pension (Chapter 4, Part 6), and/or
  • compensation for dependants (Chapter 5).

Note: An application for legal aid by veterans for matters other than under Part II of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1988 (Cth) or under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (Cth) may be dealt with under the general civil law policies.

See Civil guideline 4.8 for details about how grants of aid are funded in Veterans' matters.

Legal aid is available for war veterans' matter in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

To be eligible for legal aid the applicant must satisfy:

• the Merit Test.

Legal aid is available for appeals from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for Veterans' matters.

To be eligible for legal aid the applicant must satisfy:

• the Means Test,
• the Merit Test, and
  
• Legal Aid NSW must be satisfied there may be a strong prospect of a substantial benefit to be gained by the applicant in appealing from a decision of the AAT.