The Tribunal’s decision and rationale for it is fully detailed here. It briefly summarises the DFWA submission at para 18. While we welcome the 2% outcome, we are disappointed that the Tribunal did not backdate the full amount to take effect over the life of the Arrangement, from 6 Nov 2014.
The Tribunal’s argument was that it had no power or discretion to vary the agreement between the Commonwealth and Defence on that issue. We will continue our representations to seek to change the provisions of the Act that place limitations on the DFRT in dealing with such applications.
We believe the ADF members and their spouses will be disappointed at the decision which has the additional 0.5% effective from 12 March 2015. For WRA Years 2 and 3, the 2% indexation dates will apply with effect from 5 November 2015 and from 3 November 2016.