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

This matter concerned an appeal by the Applicant against a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services regarding the recovery of an overpayment of parenting payment. The dispute centred on whether a debt existed, and if so, whether it should be written off or waived, and whether a recovery fee was appropriately imposed. The decision was made by Senior Member D R Davies of the Tribunal.

The Tribunal was required to determine three key issues: firstly, whether a debt was owed by the Applicant for the period of 1 July 2004 to 17 August 2006; secondly, if a debt was found to exist, whether there were grounds to write off or waive its recovery; and thirdly, if no such grounds existed, whether a recovery fee should be imposed.

In considering the existence of a debt, the Tribunal found that the Applicant had failed to correctly report her income from casual employment to Centrelink. While the Applicant stated she reported her income by telephone every two weeks, she admitted to reporting based on her bank account balance rather than her payslips. Comparison of the reported amounts with her payslips revealed discrepancies, leading the Tribunal to conclude that the Applicant was overpaid parenting payment by $2,487.30. Regarding the write-off of the debt, the Tribunal noted that the relevant ground under section 1236 of the Act was the debtor's lack of capacity to repay. However, the Act presumes capacity to repay through deductions from social security payments unless severe financial hardship would result. Given the Applicant's history of repaying previous debts through deductions and the ongoing reduction of the current debt by fortnightly deductions, the Tribunal found she had the capacity to repay without severe financial hardship. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the imposition of the 10% recovery fee.