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

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the entitlement of an applicant to receive a Disability Support Pension. The applicant claimed entitlement based on several conditions, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a lower back injury, an upper back injury, and a traumatic brain injury. The core dispute revolved around whether the applicant's impairments met the threshold required for the pension, specifically whether they attracted 20 or more points under the Impairment Tables.

The Tribunal was required to determine two primary legal issues. Firstly, whether the applicant's impairments attracted 20 points or more under the Impairment Tables during the relevant period. Secondly, if this threshold was met, whether the applicant had a continuing inability to work. Central to the first issue was the requirement that any condition considered for impairment rating must be fully diagnosed, fully treated, and fully stabilised, and be more likely than not to persist for more than two years.

The Tribunal found that the applicant's spinal condition was indeed fully diagnosed, fully treated, and fully stabilised during the relevant period, and could attract 5 impairment points under Table 4 of the Impairment Tables. However, the Tribunal determined that the applicant's PTSD was not fully diagnosed, and their traumatic brain injury was not fully treated and stabilised. Consequently, these conditions could not be considered permanent for the purposes of applying the Impairment Tables, and no points could be assigned for them. As the applicant's impairments did not attract a total of 20 or more points under the Impairment Tables, the Tribunal concluded that the second issue regarding the inability to work did not need to be considered.

The decision under review, which refused the applicant's claim for a Disability Support Pension, was affirmed.