Decision reviews

Applicants can request a review of Defence decisions in relation to awards. The process and requirements for these requests vary based on the type of honour or award.

Service and campaign awards

After receiving a Defence decision, applicants may require clarification, further information, or wish to provide additional evidence to support a re-assessment and review of the decision.

Applicants are encouraged to contact Defence, and while the provision of further information or evidence will assist the reviewer, it is not essential.

A further avenue for review after a decision is made by the Directorate is through submission to the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal.

Defence honours

Defence may review matters where a nominee’s service, action or performance meets the conditions for a Defence honour from the following categories:

• gallantry decorations
• distinguished service decorations
• conspicuous service decorations
• unit citations.

Applicants seeking a review can submit a request by contacting Defence. Applications received from, or relating to, current serving Australian Defence Force members will be referred to the respective Service or Joint Operations Command for review and consideration.

Self-nominations

Defence honours, military tradition and community expectations do not currently facilitate self-nominations. However, if an individual believes they have been incorrectly overlooked for an honour or decoration, their nomination should be submitted or supported by another person who witnessed the referenced event and/or will submit a nomination on their behalf. This assists in identifying how particular actions are perceived by others.

Required information

All applications must include the applicant's phone number. The application should address the conditions for the award of the identified honour as described by the relevant regulations. The applicant may instead identify a suite of honours (gallantry, distinguished service or conspicuous service decorations) for which they are seeking recognition.

If selecting a suite of honours, the applicant should address the conditions for each of the relevant honours included in that suite. Conditions can be found in the Defence Honours and awards lists or on the Governor-General's website.

The application must:

• directly relate to the case
• be derived from official records and not be anecdotal or an opinion
• be free from prejudice or bias.

It should describe:

• what happened
• the specific action and the circumstances
• where and when it happened
• who else was involved
• who witnessed the action.

An opinion or comparison made with other awards or potential awards is not sufficient to support the conduct of a review. Information or evidence provided that is comparative, anecdotal, unsubstantiated or based on opinion will be returned to the applicant with a request to provide additional substantive evidence.

Supporting evidence

The application should include readable and certified copies of any documentary evidence to support the claim. Original documents should not be included. Further information is available in the Supporting evidence guide.

Supporting evidence guide (PDF, 345.39 KB)

The application must include official records to confirm events and any available evidence that provides insight as to why the nominated person performed in a manner worthy of recognition. If relevant, any evidence that the honours system failed to function appropriately at the time of the action, service or performance must be included as well. 

Accepted forms of evidence include:

• eyewitness statements, appropriately signed and dated by the witness
• policy and/or decision documents that support the claim
• copies of recommendations or citations for the individual/s relating to the cited action or service
• copies of research papers or book extracts, where the source research is identified
• documents held by the Australian War Memorial, National Archives of Australia and/or within private records.

Following the conclusion of the review, the applicant will be advised of the outcome in writing.

Timeframes

Honour reviews require extensive research and consideration. The length of time to research, review and consider an application is dependent on the complexity of the case and quality of evidence provided or available with Defence records.

Defence has received honours review applications across multiple conflicts and military campaigns, as well as for non-operational service achievement. To assist in the processing of these applications, Defence is prioritising applications for recognition of historical actions in the chronological order of the action/event. This is to ensure Defence continues to provide veterans with an avenue to seek a review of an honour, assist in the availability of eyewitness statements and the ability to access archival records. It is important that Defence provides closure to veterans who are advancing in age or in declining health.

The timeframes to receive an outcome can extend beyond 12 to 18 months from the date the application is received.

While Defence endeavours to have outcomes to applicants earlier, these timeframes may be exceeded.

Further review

A further avenue for review after a decision is made by Defence is through submission to the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal.