The Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal

The Tribunal provides an avenue for veterans to seek review of eligibility for a defence honour, a defence award, or a foreign award, after an application has been refused by Defence.

A reviewable decision is a decision to refuse to recommend a person, or a group of persons, for a defence honour (such as a gallantry or conspicuous service award), a defence award (such as a campaign or long service award) or a foreign award.

The service that is the subject of the reviewable decision needs to have been with or, at the direction of, the Australian Defence Force and rendered after 3 September 1939 (the beginning of the Second World War).

It is important to note that the Tribunal can only review Defence decisions. This means that an initial application for an honour or award needs to be made to Defence, and refused, before seeking review in the Tribunal. A person seeking review in the Tribunal must be either:

• the person who made the original application to Defence; or
• one of a group of people who made that application to Defence.

The Tribunal cannot review:

• applications to amend the eligibility criteria for defence honours, defence awards, or foreign awards;
• applications for Australian awards that are not defined as defence honours or defence awards under the Defence Regulation 2016 (such as unit citations or badges);
• applications to create a new honour or award; or
• eligibility for repatriation benefits.