Chapter 11 - Your Rights
Social security age pensioners (paid by DVA)
Your right to apply for an increase in pension
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Your right to obtain information about yourself
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Your right to privacy
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Your right to expect that your tax dollar is being used properly
This chapter is about:
- Your right to receive quality service.
- Your right to have our decisions reviewed.
- Your right to apply for an increase in pension.
- Your right to information.
- Your right to privacy.
- Your right to expect that your tax dollar is being used properly.
Your right to receive quality service
The DVA Service Charter outlines our commitment to providing quality service to the veteran community. We hope that you will let us know when we get it wrong. Our aim is to continually improve our service and we welcome feedback that may assist us in the process.
Your right to have our decisions reviewed
If you are dissatisfied with a decision:
- cancelling or suspending your service pension or income support supplement;
- terminating the suspension of your service pension or income support supplement;
- reducing or increasing the rate of your service pension or income support supplement;
- refusing your request for an increase in the rate of your service pension or income support supplement;
- relating to a claim you have made that you are suffering financial hardship;
- relating to an advance payment of service pension or income support supplement;
- relating to your claim for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card; or
- relating to your claim for a Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Card.
you may ask to have the decision reviewed by a Review Officer.
Your request for a review:
- must be made within 3 months of notification of the decision;
- must be in writing (there is no special form); and
- must set out your reasons for seeking the review.
If you are dissatisfied with a decision made by a Review Officer you will be notified if you have a further right of appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). Your appeal to the AAT must be in writing, must be lodged with the AAT within 3 months of the date you receive the Review Officer's decision and should set out the reasons for your appeal.
| Fact Sheet: IS135 |
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| Requesting a Review of Our Decision (PDF version) |
| Requesting a Review of Our Decision (HTML version) |
Social security age pensioners (paid by DVA)
If you have applied for or are receiving a social security age pension (paid by DVA) and you are dissatisfied with a decision about a claim or your rate of pension you can contact your nearest DVA office and talk about the decision. If you are still dissatisfied, a Review Officer will look at your case and change the decision if it is incorrect or if you still disagree will tell you how you can appeal to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT). If you still disagree with a decision made by the SSAT you have a further right of review to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
For more information on the review process contact your nearest DVA office.
Your right to apply for an increase in pension
If you receive a reduced rate of service pension, social security age pension (paid by DVA) or income support supplement, you may apply for an increase at any time. If your income or assets change and you think you are entitled to more pension, you should let us know.
In most cases, if you ring us, you will not have to confirm the details in writing. If we are notified prior to a change occurring, pension increases are only effective from the day you tell us or the day of the change, whichever is the later. If you prefer to write to us, remember to quote your file number and the date the change occurred. There is no special form to complete.
Your right to obtain information about yourself
The Freedom of Information Act 1982 gives you the right to obtain information about yourself.
You need to apply in writing and fees and charges may apply.
| Fact Sheet: FIP01 |
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| Access to Information About You (PDF version) |
| Access to Information About You (HTML version) |
Your right to privacy
As an Australian Government department we are bound by the Privacy Act 1988. This Act obliges us to protect you from unwanted or unnecessary intrusion into your private life and to follow certain standards in requesting and managing the information we receive.
For more information about freedom of information and privacy, contact the Freedom of Information section in your nearest DVA office.
| Fact Sheet: FIP02 |
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| Privacy (PDF version) |
| Privacy (HTML version) |
| Fact Sheet: FIP04 |
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| Confidentiality of social security (Centrelink) pension information (PDF version) |
| Confidentiality of social security (Centrelink) pension information (HTML version) |
This fact sheet 'Confidentiality' outlines the obligations staff have for the handling of personal information relevant to the payment of social security age pension (paid by DVA) to Australian veterans.
Your right to expect that your tax dollar is being used properly
We have safeguards in place to ensure that pensions are paid properly in accordance with legislation. These safeguards include:
- Review programs - we will undertake periodic reviews to ensure that pensioners receive their correct entitlements. If you receive the maximum rate of pension and have income and assets which are unlikely to affect the rate of your pension, you may be asked to provide information less frequently than if you have income or assets likely to affect your pension.
- Data matching - we compare information we have collected from you with information collected by other government departments - the procedure is overseen by the Privacy Commissioner. (While we do compare information with other agencies you are still required to notify DVA of any changes that will result in changes to your pension.)
| Fact Sheet: IS154 |
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| Data Matching (PDF version) |
| Data Matching (HTML version) |
- Overpayment management - if you are paid more pension than
you are entitled to receive, the amount of pension that you should not
have been paid will be recovered. For example if a change you tell us
about results in a reduction or cancellation and you tell us about the
change more than 14 days after it happened, the reduction or cancellation
will usually result in an overpayment of pension. We will recalculate
your pension and let you know about repayment arrangements. (There are
circumstances where you have more than 14 days to tell us of a change.
For more information see Chapter 5 - Your
obligations).
It is possible that even if you tell us about a change within the required time we may not have been able to recalculate your pension in time for your next payday. We would still recover any money that you have received over and above what you were entitled to.
In most cases any money you have received that you were not entitled to would be recovered by making deductions from your fortnightly pension until the full amount is recovered. There are other methods of recovery including repaying the money in a lump sum. This is subject to your capacity to repay. If you have any difficulty making repayment, contact your nearest DVA office.
| Fact Sheet: IS151 |
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| Understanding Overpayment Recovery (PDF version) |
| Understanding Overpayment Recovery (HTML version) |
- Fraud control - we look for unusual things or inconsistencies in our information.
If investigation reveals that money has been improperly obtained, or breaches of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 or the social security law have occurred involving the defrauding or attempted defrauding of the Australian Government, we can give the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further action.
Telling us about fraud
If you are aware that pension has been obtained fraudulently by another person or that another person has failed to declare information which would affect their pension, you can give the information to DVA either by ringing us, writing to us or visiting us. You can provide the information anonymously if you wish.