Brice and Comcare (Compensation)

This matter concerned an application for review by Ms. Brice of a reconsideration decision made by Comcare. Ms. Brice had lodged a claim for compensation in 1994 for anxiety and stress arising from workplace harassment, which Comcare accepted. Years later, in 2004, Ms. Brice lodged further claims for permanent injury and compensation in respect of anxiety, depression, fibromyalgia, and headaches, attributing these conditions to the same workplace events. Comcare rejected these subsequent claims, finding that they were not sequelae of the accepted injury and that there was insufficient evidence to establish the ongoing contribution of the accepted injury to these conditions. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine the scope of its jurisdiction in reviewing Comcare's reconsideration decision.

The central legal issues before the Tribunal were the extent of its jurisdiction in reviewing Comcare's decision, particularly concerning the claims for fibromyalgia, depression, and headaches. Specifically, the Tribunal had to ascertain whether its powers extended to deciding issues of employment causation for these conditions, including any changes in medical diagnosis, and to determine Ms. Brice's entitlements to compensation for incapacity to work and medical expenses arising from the physiological and psychiatric symptoms of fibromyalgia, however described. The Tribunal's jurisdiction was conferred by section 64(1) of the *Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1994* (SRC Act), which allows for the review of a "reviewable decision," defined by section 60(1) of the SRC Act as a decision made under section 38(4) or section 62.

The Tribunal reasoned that its jurisdiction to review Comcare's reconsideration decision, made on 16 August 2016, encompassed all matters that were capable of being decided under the SRC Act and were placed before the decision-maker as part of a claim. Under section 43(1) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975*, the Tribunal may exercise all the powers and discretions conferred by the SRC Act on the person who made the decision under review. Therefore, the Tribunal had the power to decide issues of employment causation for fibromyalgia, including changes in medical diagnosis, and to determine Ms. Brice's entitlements to compensation for incapacity and medical expenses resulting from the symptoms of that condition, as these were matters that Comcare could have determined under the SRC Act.