---
title: "Check a Victorian first-responder mental injury where no presumption was stated"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/test-a-first-responder-post-traumatic-stress-claim-against-any-presumpti/victoria"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A21-WC20261023-14-VIC"
practice_area: "Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["VIC"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-25"
---

# Check a Victorian first-responder mental injury where no presumption was stated

> From the role and the diagnosis, using a firm-controlled tool, record that the opened Victorian pages state no post-traumatic stress presumption, and table the ordinary mental-injury test instead.…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/test-a-first-responder-post-traumatic-stress-claim-against-any-presumpti/victoria  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-25

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | From the role and the diagnosis, using a firm-controlled tool, record that the opened Victorian pages state no post-traumatic stress presumption, and table the ordinary mental-injury test instead. Do not decide the claim. |
| What the lawyer must review | Do not advise that Victoria presumes the injury is work-related. Decide the claim under the predominant-cause and stress-and-burnout rules. Do not treat a traumatic-event exception as a presumption. Health and wage records stay in a firm-controlled tool. Apply ASCR r 9, APP 11, and the notifiable-breach test. |
| Written for | Victoria |
| Applies to | [Test a first-responder post-traumatic stress claim against any presumption](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/test-a-first-responder-post-traumatic-stress-claim-against-any-presumpti.md) |

## Checking plan

**Verify against sources**

The practice directive and the cancer presumptive-rights page were the Victorian pages opened on this question. Neither states a presumption for post-traumatic stress. Frontline workers can still use the section 39(2A) exception where stress or burnout comes from traumatic events that are usual in the duties. The directive says any qualifying mental injury can meet that exception. A post-traumatic stress diagnosis is not required.

- What the AI does: From the role and the diagnosis, using a firm-controlled tool, record that the opened Victorian pages state no post-traumatic stress presumption, and table the ordinary mental-injury test instead. Do not decide the claim.
- What the lawyer does: The lawyer decides the legal question, checks the sources, and authorises anything the family or the insurer will receive.
- Who reviews: Lawyer competent in statutory workers compensation
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 23 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Checks the lawyer makes

1. Write that no presumption was found on the pages opened, not that no law exists.
2. Apply the DSM, dysfunction and predominant-cause requirements from the mental-injury task.
3. Use the traumatic-event exception only where the events are the ones the directive describes.
4. Do not copy the Queensland first-responder list into this file.

## Notes

- No generative-AI practice note of the Workplace Injury Commission, Medical Panels or a Victorian court was opened. Apply the forum's current direction before a document is lodged.
- A further instrument could exist. The lawyer confirms the current Act before telling the client there is no presumption.
- If health or wage records leave the firm-controlled tool, decide whether a Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) breach is notifiable.

## Practical guide

Jurisdiction: Victoria, mental injury under the practice directive

**Deliverable**: A note that no presumption was found, plus the ordinary test still to be decided.

**Inputs**

- Role and duties
- Diagnosis and who made it
- Account of the traumatic events

**Example**: Illustrative example: An ambulance officer has a mental injury after repeated fatal attendances. The note says the opened pages state no presumption. It lists the events for the traumatic-event exception. The lawyer decides predominant cause.

**Stop and escalate when**

- The advice would say a Victorian presumption exists.
- The diagnosis is not from a medical practitioner.

Checked 2026-10-23.

## Sources

- [WorkSafe Victoria practice directive: mental injury eligibility](https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/practice-directive-mental-injury-eligibility) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [WorkSafe Victoria: presumptive rights compensation](https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/presumptive-rights-compensation) (checked 2026-10-23)

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*