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

This decision concerned an application for a disability support pension (DSP) by DKRH against the Secretary, Department of Social Services. The core dispute revolved around whether the applicant's impairments, specifically a mental health condition and asthma, met the criteria for a DSP qualification. The matter was heard by Member D K Grigg.

The legal issues before the court were whether the applicant's impairments attracted an impairment rating of 20 or more points under the relevant Impairment Tables, as required by section 94(1)(b) of the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth). This assessment required determining if the conditions causing the impairments were permanent, meaning they had been fully diagnosed, fully treated, and fully stabilised, and were likely to persist for more than two years.

The court reasoned that the Impairment Tables are functional assessments, not diagnostic tools. To assign an impairment rating, the applicant's condition must be permanent, which in turn requires it to be fully diagnosed, fully treated, and fully stabilised, with a prognosis of persisting for over two years. The court considered evidence of corroboration, treatment undertaken, and planned treatment to assess diagnosis and treatment. Full stabilisation was determined by whether further reasonable treatment was likely to yield significant functional improvement enabling work within two years, or if no such improvement was expected even with treatment, or if there were compelling reasons not to undertake treatment. The Respondent accepted that the Applicant suffered from a number of impairments for the purposes of section 94(1)(a) as at the Qualification Date. In light of the medical evidence, the Member found that at the Qualification Date, the Applicant suffered Psychiatric Impairments and an Asthma Impairment for the purposes of the Act and that the requirement in section 94(1)(a) had been met.