Bruce Topperwien is a senior public law practitioner with extensive experience in administrative, veterans’, compensation and health law. He previously served as General Manager and General Counsel of the Professional Services Review Agency (PSR) – the Medicare Regulator, where he was responsible for the statutory administration of the inappropriate practice scheme under the Health Insurance Act 1973. In that role he advised the Director and PSR Committees, oversaw litigation and held executive responsibility for governance, risk and security frameworks.
Across a Commonwealth career spanning senior executive roles in the Department of Health and Aged Care, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Veterans’ Review Board, Bruce has worked at the intersection of statutory interpretation, tribunal process, regulatory design and legislative reform. His contributions have included involvement in the development of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012 (now the My Health Records Act 2012) and structural reform within veterans’ entitlements and compensation systems, including the establishment of the Repatriation Medical Authority.
Bruce holds a Master of Laws (Public Law) from the Australian National University and is the author of Health Insurance Act – Cases & Commentary, ISBN: 9798337538921, the leading legal text on Medicare billing law and practice.
His other publications include.
Contributor to Veterans’ Entitlements and Military Compensation Law, by Creyke & Sutherland, Federation Press (2000, 2004, 2015, 2024)
Contributor to Military Law in Australia, Federation Press (2019, 2024)
‘Foreign precedents’ in Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia
Various articles in AIAL Forum (journal of Australian Institute of Administrative Law), Southern Cross University Law Review (peer reviewed), Sabretache (journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia).
Posts by Bruce: