Brighton woman awarded pension 27 years after discharge from air force

A Brisbane woman, who suffered decades of pain following a traffic accident, has been awarded a Defence pension and payout 27 years after she was discharged from the air force.

RAAF veteran Denise George of Brighton with Sandgate RSL Sub Branch president Peter McNamara. Picture: Michelle Smith

A BRIGHTON woman has been awarded almost $750,000 in a Defence pension payout, 27 years after she was discharged from the air force.

The pension, backdated to 1991, was awarded after Denise George’s case was taken up by Sandgate RSL Sub Branch senior advocate Peter McNamara, who also campaigned to change the conditions of her original discharge.

Ms George was discharged administratively as “incompatible with service life” in 1991, two years after she was injured in a traffic accident.

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She has experienced decades of pain from undiagnosed double fractures in her pelvis and a 23cm haematoma (solid swelling of clotted blood) which had calcified and protruded about 13cm from her hip.

Denise George (back row 4th from the right) spent five and a half years in the RAAF before she was discharged in 1991. Picture: Denise George

In May the Surgeon General Australian Defence Force acknowledged there was sufficient evidence to have warranted a medical discharge in 1991, and that Ms George’s post accident injuries did not appear to have been adequately addressed at the time.

“It is not inappropriate to retrospectively treat her separation from RAAF service as being on medical grounds,” an official report stated.

Ms George said she had mixed feelings about the change to her discharge and the awarding of the Class A pension (for an incapacity of 60 per cent or more) with back pay of $747,537.

“It doesn’t bring back 27 years, but it’ll certainly make the next 27 years easier,” she said.

“My feelings range from anger to relief to sadness. It’s like being in a blender.

“My initial response was that I was vindicated, I wasn’t imagining these things all those years ago.

“It doesn’t take away the mental issues I still struggle with but I’m making progress and I have a really good support team. I’m not fighting this alone.”

Her troubles started in 1989. Ms George, then 22, had completed one year in the Army Reserve and three years in the RAAF when, in February, she was posted to 486 Sqn in Richmond, NSW.

Sandgate RSL Sub Branch senior advocate Peter McNamara was able to help RAAF veteran Denise George of Brighton. Picture: Michelle Smith

She had been there two weeks when she left the base to get plants for her new quarters and was involved in a serious traffic accident which tore her car apart. The other driver was charged with negligent driving.

She said she was taken to a military hospital where she had her hips xrayed and was discharged the following day with soft tissue damage and swelling, and sent back to work on light duties.

“I could barely walk,” Ms George said.

“I went to a civilian physio to try to get some swelling off my hip. Then I went to the military hospital and they did get me some physio.

“I had been warned of being put in front of a medical board if I continued to seek help for the same symptoms so I shut my mouth.

“I didn’t want to lose my career and just kept going. In February 1991 I got into discord with my Flight Lieutenant and I broke down and she proceeded to discharge me as incompatible with service life after a total of five and a half years military service.

“What they didn’t know at the time was they had sent me back to work with double fractures in my pelvis.”

Ms George said she reached crisis point in 2016 after she went through a new body scanner at a US airport.

“Security officers pulled me aside on suspicion I had a bomb on me (because of the protrusion from my hip).”

Ms George said she had lived with the protrusion since the accident.

“I hated it and was horrified. I just wore bigger clothes and put on weight and hid it.

“After the scanner incident I went to a doctor and said ‘can you cut this off or I will’.

“It was then we discovered it had calcified, and when they sent me for an xray before surgery they found impressions of the two fractures in my pelvis.”

Her doctor told her she needed to see an advocate, which is where Peter McNamara came in.

Sandgate RSL Sub Branch president and senior advocate Peter McNamara.

“When Denise came in to see me she had a serious injury ... and she had obviously not been dealt with fairly by the military,” Mr McNamara said.

“We got her discharge changed from an administrative discharge to a medical discharge.

“That takes her out of the realm of being a malingerer and put some clarity on the injury.

“Now, 27 years after her discharge they will give her a formal source of income.

“The next step is to fight for DVA to accept liability for the injuries, both mental and physical, from the motor vehicle accident.”

Ms George had surgery last December to remove the haematoma.

“I have a scar 35cm on my hip and straight through to my femur bone, that’s how deep it was.

“I’ve lost strength and stability in my hip because they cut into the ligament which stabilises the hip, but I’m getting stronger.

“I haven’t held down a full-time career since I left the air force. I’ve always had work, but it’s always been short term or part time.”

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She said she entered the public service after school and joined the Army Reserve “and I loved that and thought this is something I could do permanently”.

“I went to join the full-time army. I wandered down to Edward St and ended up joining the Air Force. My first posting was Point Cook then Base Sqn Wagga. I was in warehouse supply.

“I can’t say I ever mapped out my future in the Air Force but I never saw it ending either.

“I loved the time that I had up until the accident. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me and it ended up also being the worst.

“Everyone says how did you put up with it for so long. I was 23. I was told to shut my mouth and I thought the Air Force would take care of it.

“I thought I was lucky to be alive. I knew nothing about advocates.”

Mr McNamara said Denise’s situation was not uncommon.

“I’ve got about 20 cases exactly like it, where we’re looking at about 15 to 20 years back pay. I had three payouts recently worth about $600,000.”

NOTES

■ Because of her “incompatible with service life” discharge, Denise George was not previously entitled to a defence pension.

■ In relation to the $747,537 payout, the government will take out any DVA or Centrelink payments made to Denise over the years, and a substantial amount will be taken by the Australian Taxation Office.