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

This matter concerned an application for a stay of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to grant Disability Support Pension (DSP) payments to Ms Douglas, pending the final determination of a substantive review application. The application was heard by Dr L Bygrave, Member.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether to grant a stay of the AAT's decision to award DSP payments. This required the Tribunal to consider whether there was sufficient evidence of financial hardship to warrant such a stay.

The Member granted the application for a stay, noting that Ms Douglas resided at her family home and received other Centrelink payments, namely youth allowance and a supplement. These payments were found to mitigate any potential for her to suffer financial hardship while the substantive review application was pending. Consequently, the decision to grant DSP would not be implemented until the Tribunal made its final determination on the review.