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

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered the application of Blundell (the applicant) against the Secretary, Department of Social Services. The dispute concerned the applicant's failure to comply with a direction from the Tribunal to notify it of their intention to proceed with their appeal. The applicant's representative had explicitly stated to the Tribunal that she did not wish to communicate further regarding the matter.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it should exercise its discretion under section 42A(5) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) to dismiss the applicant's application. This required the Tribunal to determine if the applicant's non-compliance with the direction to notify its intention to proceed warranted such a dismissal.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant, through their representative, had been clearly directed to inform the Tribunal of their intention to proceed. The representative's unequivocal statement that she did not want to communicate with the Tribunal about the matter demonstrated a clear failure to comply with this direction. The Tribunal considered that this failure, coupled with the lack of any indication that the applicant wished to pursue the appeal, justified the exercise of its discretion to dismiss the application. The Tribunal noted that the applicant had not provided any explanation or justification for the non-compliance.

Consequently, the Tribunal made an order dismissing the applicant's application.