Able Australia Services and National Disability Insurance Agency

Able Australia Services (the applicant) sought review of a decision by a payment officer of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to refuse payment of an invoice for services rendered to an NDIS participant. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was asked to determine whether this refusal constituted a "reviewable decision" under section 99 of the *National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013* (Cth), which would then allow for a further decision to be made under section 100 of the Act.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the NDIA payment officer's decision to refuse payment of the invoice was a decision made under section 100 of the Act, following a reviewable decision under section 99. This required the Tribunal to consider the nature of the payment officer's decision and whether it was preceded by a formal reviewable decision as contemplated by the legislation.

The Tribunal reasoned that the payment officer's decision was not a decision made under section 100 of the Act, as there was no antecedent "reviewable decision" under section 99 that had been made by the NDIA. Consequently, the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to hear the application for review. The application was therefore dismissed under section 42A(4) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth).