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

This matter concerned an application by Mrs Brockhurst for review of a decision by the Department of Social Services regarding her eligibility for a pension bonus. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to consider whether to dismiss Mrs Brockhurst's substantive application for review.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether Mrs Brockhurst had been given notice of the original decision rejecting her application for a pension bonus, and consequently, whether her application for review was lodged within the prescribed time limit. The Tribunal also had to determine if it had jurisdiction to review the merits of the original decision, or if the application should be dismissed pursuant to sections 42A(4) and 42B of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth).

The Tribunal accepted that Mrs Brockhurst was an honest and credible witness and found no reason to disbelieve her assertion that she never received the letters from Centrelink requesting further information or advising of the rejection of her pension bonus application. However, the Tribunal applied section 237 of the Administration Act, which provides that notice of a decision is deemed to have been given if it is sent by prepaid post to the person's last known postal address. Furthermore, section 23(12) of the Social Security Act states that notice is taken to have been given even if the person did not actually receive it. The Tribunal concluded that Mrs Brockhurst was deemed to have received notice of the original decision on 22 July 2014. As her subsequent submission of documents on 25 November 2014 was made long after the 13-week period required by section 129(3) of the Administration Act for an application for review, the Tribunal found that her substantive application had no reasonable prospect of success.

Consequently, the Tribunal dismissed Mrs Brockhurst's substantive application pursuant to sections 42A(4) and 42B of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975.