Book Review: Veterans’ Entitlements and Military Compensation Law

3^rd Edition

Authors: Robin Creyke and Peter Sutherland

Publisher: The Federation Press

Reviewer: Kate Blackford Slack

As an annotated version of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (‘the Act’), this textbook is a highly valuable resource for practitioners engaged in the practice of veterans’ entitlements law.

The third edition will continue the tradition set by its predecessors.

Comprehensive case notes are provided with respect to each of the sections of the Act. The case notes provide relevant historical context and up-to-date examples of application.

The authors provide a user-friendly guide to the Statement of Principles scheme and its application pursuant to the tests set out in Repatriation Commission v Deledio (1998) and case law that subsequently qualified those tests.

Refreshingly, rather than fill voids between chapters with white space, drawings provided with permission of the artist, Geoff Pryor, taken from sketchbooks drawn on pilgrimages to the Western Front, Gallipoli and Papua New Guinea, are included.

Their presence, not only artistically impressive, serves as a reminder to the reader that, irrespective of the precise legal point that is at issue in any given case, the legislation has, as its overarching concern, the objective of recompensing members of Australia’s armed forces for injuries sustained in the course of service on behalf of their country.