Gunshot injury

Gunshot injury — DVA SoP factors

Every factor in the Repatriation Medical Authority Statements of Principles for Gunshot injury. DVA can only accept a claim for Gunshot injury if at least one of these factors is met and connected to your service. Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) applies to operational service; Balance of Probabilities (BoP) applies to peacetime service.

Source: Repatriation Medical Authority Statements of Principles as held by the Veterans Health Centre. SoPs are amended and replaced regularly; always confirm the current instrument at rma.gov.au before relying on it.

RH No. 23 of 2020 · BoP No. 24 of 20204 factors

Meaning of gunshot injury: For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, gunshot injury means damage to body tissue, organs or bone as a result of a gunshot.

Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) — Statement of Principles No. 23 of 2020

At least one of the following factors must as a minimum exist before it can be said that a reasonable hypothesis has been raised connecting gunshot injury or death from gunshot injury with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

(1)
experiencing a gunshot;
(2)
inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for gunshot injury;

Aggravation-only factors: the factors in subsection 9(2) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, the condition where it was suffered or contracted before or during (but did not arise out of) the person’s relevant service.

Balance of Probabilities (BoP) — Statement of Principles No. 24 of 2020

2 factors

At least one of the following factors must exist before it can be said that, on the balance of probabilities, gunshot injury or death from gunshot injury is connected with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

(1)
experiencing a gunshot;
(2)
inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for gunshot injury;

Accepted — what is it worth?

A Statement of Principles decides one thing only: whether DVA accepts liability for gunshot injury. It says nothing about how much you are paid. Compensation is worked out separately, from impairment points under the GARP — so a condition can be accepted and still rate few points, or rate more than you expect once it is combined with everything else on your file.

Gunshot injury may be accepted without proving the link to service

Gunshot injury is listed in Part 2 of the determination as attributable to defence service, provided the criteria below are met.

Qualifying service: Any defence service.
Onset: during the qualifying service.

A diagnosis is still required, and the presumption may not apply where there is clear evidence of a cause other than service. "Onset" means when an injury was sustained, or when all the signs and symptoms of a disease were first present — not the date of diagnosis. Applies to claims made on or after 1 July 2026.