Brickey and Haseltine (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered the dispute between Brickey and Haseltine concerning the particulars of an administrative assessment of child support. The core of the disagreement revolved around the correct calculation of the liable parent's adjusted taxable income for the purposes of the assessment.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the adjusted taxable income of the liable parent had been correctly applied in the child support assessment. Specifically, the issue was whether a modified figure, rather than the actual adjusted taxable income, should have been used in the calculation.

The Tribunal reasoned that the relevant legislation mandated the use of the liable parent's adjusted taxable income. It found that the figure used in the assessment was a modified amount and not the correct adjusted taxable income as defined by the legislation. Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the decision under review and remitted the matters back to the original decision-maker for reconsideration, providing directions on how to proceed.