BWLK and National Disability Insurance Agency

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered a dispute between BWLK and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). The applicant sought a review of the NDIA's decision not to approve certain supports under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Crucially, the applicant also requested the Tribunal to consider additional supports that had not been the subject of an internal review by the NDIA.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed the jurisdiction to consider these additional supports, which had not undergone the mandatory internal review process. This question required the Tribunal to determine the scope of its review powers under the NDIS Act and how those powers related to the decisions made by the NDIA.

The Tribunal, referencing High Court authority in *Shi v the Migration Agents Registration Authority* and its own recent decision in *QDKH and National Disability Insurance Agency*, reasoned that its jurisdiction is strictly limited to reviewing decisions that have been subject to an internal review by the NDIA. The Tribunal's role is to address the same question as the original decision-maker, and this is determined by the elements of the question necessary to reach a decision. While the Tribunal has procedural powers to obtain evidence, this does not extend its jurisdiction to consider matters that have not first been subject to the NDIA's internal review process. The Tribunal found that the new claims for supports made by the applicant fell outside its jurisdictional scope for the current review.

Consequently, the Tribunal ordered that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the additional supports requested by the applicant. The Tribunal noted that these new matters could still be pursued directly with the NDIA, with the possibility of further review should an appropriate decision be made and subsequently reviewed internally.