Clark and Comcare (Compensation)

This decision was made by Deputy President D O'Donovan SM of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in a matter involving Clark and Comcare concerning compensation entitlements. The applicant sought to vacate a hearing scheduled to proceed via Microsoft Teams, raising objections related to technological limitations, the health of counsel, and the applicant's own health.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether proceeding with the hearing via Microsoft Teams would breach the requirements of procedural fairness, particularly in light of the applicant's objections. The Tribunal was required to consider the content of procedural fairness, which is not fixed but depends on the nature of the proceedings, the parties involved, and the statutory context.

The Tribunal reasoned that the limitation of seeing only four participants at a time on Microsoft Teams was adequate for a compensation hearing, allowing visibility of opposing counsel, any witness, and the Tribunal. While acknowledging that specific technical issues could necessitate an adjournment, the Tribunal found that the general use of Microsoft Teams was consistent with sections 2A and 33A of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) and did not inherently raise procedural fairness concerns. The Tribunal distinguished the present case from *McDonald et al*, noting that the difficulties encountered in that case were more extensive and rendered the trial impractical, whereas the Tribunal's experience with Microsoft Teams had thus far been successful. In the absence of evidence of likely unreliability or specific difficulties in arranging witness appearances, the Tribunal declined to vacate the hearing.