Andre and Secretary, Department of Social Services (Social services second review)

This matter concerned an application by Miss Andre for the waiver or write-off of a debt raised by Centrelink. The Secretary of the Department of Social Services contended that Miss Andre had failed to notify the Department within the required timeframe of changes to her income, specifically regarding earnings from past employers and income protection payments from AIA. The dispute centred on whether the circumstances warranted the exercise of discretion under sections 1236 or 1237 of the relevant Act to waive or write off the debt.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the discretion to waive the debt under section 1237 of the Act was enlivened, and specifically, whether the circumstances outlined in section 1237A applied. Section 1237A requires that a debt be attributable solely to an administrative error by the Commonwealth and that the debtor received the payment in good faith. The Tribunal also considered the broader discretion under section 1236 to write off a debt.

The Tribunal reasoned that the debt arising from undeclared wages from Woolworths and Programmed Recruitment was not solely attributable to an administrative error by the Commonwealth, as it was caused by incorrect information initially provided by Miss Andre. Therefore, the discretion under section 1237A was not enlivened for this portion of the debt. Regarding the debt related to income protection payments from AIA, the Tribunal found that Miss Andre had not declared these payments, and her assertion that she was unaware they constituted reportable income was insufficient to establish that the debt was solely due to administrative error. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the discretion to waive or write off the debt under either section 1236 or 1237 was not enlivened by the circumstances.

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the previous decision, concluding that the debt of $16,136.70, as recalculated by Centrelink, should not be written off or waived, either in whole or in part.