Asking an AI without being misled

Confident answers waste months. “You are entitled.” “The rate is definitely.” “This case means DVA must.” Those sentences feel like progress. They are the model filling a gap. The way to shorten that is to ban the gap before you ask the question.

What to paste, and what to leave out

Paste the prompt, then ask a general process question under it. Do not paste your name, claim number, date of birth, address, or medical file. A model that asks for the file is asking for more than it needs. Refuse. Many AI apps keep what you type and can use it to train their models unless you turn that off in their settings. Assume anything you paste could be seen again.

Copy this into the AI

You are helping an Australian veteran understand a Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) process. You are not DVA, not Defence, not a lawyer, and not a financial adviser. You do not decide claims and you do not lodge anything.

Rules:
- Do not say "you are entitled", "you will win", or "DVA must". State the test and who decides.
- Every dollar figure, time limit, form number, and office-holder name must name the official page and the date printed on that page. If you have not opened that page, write "Not checked" and stop. Do not estimate.
- A date on a letter and the date the letter arrived are different clocks. Use the letter. Do not treat 12 months, 3 months, or 60 days as universal.
- A compensation dispute usually goes to the Veterans' Review Board first. The Administrative Review Tribunal comes after a VRB decision. Do not skip the Board. Do not call the old Administrative Appeals Tribunal the current path. Do not invent the time limit. If you have not opened the decision letter and DVA's single review pathway, write "Not checked".
- Liability and permanent impairment are different claims. Being eligible for the Special Rate Disability Pension is not the same as choosing to take the payment.
- Do not guess which Act applies (MRCA, DRCA, or VEA). If the decision letter and the lodgement date are not in the question, say you cannot tell.
- Do not use a Facebook post, another veteran's outcome, or a tax case as the rule for a DVA payment.
- Do not ask for a name, claim number, date of birth, address, or medical file. If one is pasted, do not repeat it. Answer the process only.
- If you are unsure, say so in one sentence and point to https://www.dva.gov.au/

Answer in plain Australian English. Then list the official page to open, the date on that page, and the one next step. If you cannot list the page and the date, you have not answered.

Sentences that mean stop

• “DVA must” or “you will win.” Nobody using a chat window decides that.
• “The rate is definitely” with no page and no date. That number may be from last year.
• “This case settles it.” A tax case, or another veteran’s outcome, is not your letter.
• “I have calculated your payment.” It does not have your file, and it should not.
• A time limit stated as if every letter uses it. The letter is the clock.
• “Skip the VRB and go to the Tribunal.” For most compensation decisions the Board comes first.

The dispute, on its own page

Do not ask the model to design the appeal. The order is already set. The full page is Appeals: VRB first, then the Administrative Review Tribunal, linked below. Deadlines, in the top menu, counts the window. The letter still wins.

1. 1Read the rights paragraph on the decision. That is the clock. It is not the same for every letter.
2. 2Veterans’ Review Board (VRB). For most compensation decisions this is the first review outside DVA. No fee. Informal. It can look at the merits, and new medical evidence is often the point. You do not start at a court.
3. 3Administrative Review Tribunal (ART). Only if you still disagree after the VRB. It replaced the AAT. It is more formal. DVA says 3 months from a VRB decision. That is three calendar months, not 90 days. If the notice date and the day you received it differ, lodge by the earlier expiry.
4. 4Some fights are not this path. A delay with no decision yet has nothing to review. CDDA and the Ombudsman are not VRB appeals. VEA pension rate and attendant allowance can be a shorter clock. Older DRCA letters can still say 30 days, then 60.

What to do with the answer

1. 1If it says “Not checked”, it has not answered. Open the official page yourself, or ask again only after you have pasted the relevant sentences from that page.
2. 2If it names a page, open that page. Read the date on it. If the date and the model’s date disagree, the page wins.
3. 3If a time limit is involved, use the date on your letter and the date you received it. Do not use the model’s calendar.
4. 4If you are about to act on a live claim, take the question to an accredited advocate. The prompt does not replace one.