Colin Dunstan wins a year's pay in compensation...

Comment about this news story found on The Riot ACT:

He is being compensated for the very illness that tipped him over the edge.

What's seems to be the drama here? His work place "injury" and his subsequent criminality are surely separate issues??

Not entirely... It seems the illness resulted from his treatment by the ATO and that "tipped him over the edge". It was this illness that led to the criminal behaviour. I have looked at the psychiatric evidence accepted by the AAT -

I regard his depressed state of mind at the time to have been an essential ingredient in the behaviour that led to his arrest. He was desperate, without hope and had decided to end his life.

Given evidence of workplace harassment that Comcare gave to the AAT, it is surprising the AAT only provided compensation for the ATO's role in exacerbating his illness.

The following is from a written submission by his female co-worker that she gave to the Human Rights Office in 1996. Note that she thought this was an answer to Dunstan's complaint against her and the Tax Office. Comcare gave a copy of this evidence to the Tribunal and argued this harassment at work should be called a "personal matter":

On Monday 17 February 1992 Colin told me he made love to his wife during the weekend when I questioned him. I screamed at him and said that if he needed sex that badly he could see a prostitute and I could pay for him if he did not have the money. Colin said he didn't want to have sex with strangers. I said 'Then have sex with me then.'