Australian Defence Force Retirees Association Inc – Federal Court

For those of you that could not watch the court proceedings, I offer the following short summary.

Clinton McKenzie presented a very sound case, He displayed a thorough knowledge of the Act and raised some issues that drew very positive questions from Justice Perry. The ADFRA research team wish to congratulate Clinton on his representation of the case.

The respondent CSC was represented by a Barrister and two backup solicitors. Our view of the counter arguments put forward indicated CSC expected a walkover and their case did not flow in a logical sequence. The Barrister made a statement that the Life Expectancy table was not Life Expectancy (even though that is what they are called in the Act) What he was getting at was that they were really a “divisor” as was put forward by the Ombudsman in his infamous review, thus not reflecting in any way the expectation of life.

The Act is the Act and that is the document on which Justice Perry will develop her findings.

It could be several weeks before the court is re-convened and then Justice Perry will inform us of her decision. These proceedings will also be available to watch online. Should the verdict go in our favour there is a possibility CSC will appeal the decision and then we could end up before the full court.

Regards

Jim Hislop

Thank you for your support over the years and we have not finished yet.