Almost 300 Australian veterans of British nuclear testing are making a last-ditch attempt to win compensation.

They want the Human Rights Commission to find that the Australian Government knowingly exposed them to harmful radiation by ordering them to take part in the tests in the SA outback.

While any recommendation from that action will not be binding, they are hoping to embarrass the Government into compensating them and providing medical treatment.

Many of the surviving personnel, ordered to take part in the tests at Maralinga in the 1950s and '60s, blame their medical conditions on exposure to nuclear radiation.

Stacks Goudkamp lawyer Joshua Dale says given the advanced age of the group, it is very much a case of now or never.

"This submission is really the end of the line," he said.

"It's the last opportunity that we have to try and get some kind of recourse from the Australian Government.

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"It essentially says that the Australian governments have breached the human rights of the veterans and this is for a number of reasons.

"The nuclear veterans were essentially used as guinea pigs during the nuclear testing.

"There's evidence that has revealed that the veterans were sent in after testing had taken place to see what the type of effect radiation would have on the human body, and there's various articles under the universal declaration that specifically go to a right to life and obviously the right to a standard of living as well."

The veterans' decision to take their case to the Human Rights Commission follows a UK court's ruling that the link between the tests and the veterans' health problems could not be proven.

In 2010 the Government allocated $24 million towards service pensions and healthcare cards for the veterans and their widows.

Entitlements disputes

Sorry, this video has expired Maralinga veterans appeal to HRC for justice ( Emma Renwick )

A spokeswoman for Veterans Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon says eligible veterans have access to a broad range of compensation and health treatment already.

But Mr Dale says many are caught up in disputes over the entitlements.

"The problem is these administrative disputes are largely being viciously defended by the Government," he said.

"In a lot of the cases they're unsuccessful because of the time that has lapsed and due to the secrecy of the type of testing that was taking place.

"A lot of the records don't even show what type of levels of radiation they were exposed to, which means there's very little evidence to prove that they were exposed to harmful levels and whether or not those levels could have potentially caused their illnesses.

"One of the veterans that we represent, he suffers from leukaemia, and they've said that he was too far away from the testing to be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

"He's really left high and dry at the moment with this horrific illness."

Avon Hudson, 76, is one of 8,000 Australian service personnel that took part in the tests.

He has echoed Mr Dale's sentiments on how urgent the case is.

"If we don't get what we're entitled to now, well I suppose all we can do is throw our hands in the air and wait for the end to come, because we're all getting too old," Mr Hudson said.

"We won't be here in five years.

"Every year that goes by it's less likely you'll be able to cope with these things.

"We were never given any briefing as to what we were doing, what the dangers were, what risks were involved or what precautions had to be taken."