An advocate for military veterans is calling on the royal commissioner who led the banking inquiry to head the inquiry into a defence force superannuation scheme he believes has deprived its members of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Upon retirement, those who served more than 20 years could commute or exchange part of their superannuation for a lump sum and repay it with deductions from their fortnightly pension. What has veterans up in arms is that when they reach the age of 72 and have repaid all money owed, their pension payment did not return to the full amount.Retired Air Force squadron leader Ken Stone has been campaigning on the DFRDB issue for about a year.
He said up to 55,000 defence force personnel are affected, and he estimated they are owed at least $200 million a year for the past 40 years.