DRXK and National Disability Insurance Agency

This matter concerned an application for review by DRXK (the Applicant) of a decision by the National Disability Insurance Agency (the Respondent) regarding the Applicant's statement of participant supports, specifically a request for additional funding for allied health therapies and support worker hours. The Applicant sought an order under section 37(2) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) compelling the Respondent to produce further documents.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it should exercise its power under section 37(2) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* to order the Respondent to produce documents that had not been voluntarily lodged. The Applicant argued that certain requested documents, including "Typical Support Packages," were relevant to the review and would shed light on the efficacy and suitability of the Applicant's supports and whether they met the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria.

The Tribunal considered the Applicant's request in light of the usual practice regarding the production of documents by parties to a proceeding. It noted that section 37 of the Act generally obliges the decision-maker to lodge material documents, and that the power to issue a summons is typically reserved for obtaining documents from third parties, not from the parties themselves. While section 37(2) grants the Tribunal extensive power to order production of documents, even those that might otherwise be subject to privilege or public interest immunity, the Tribunal must be satisfied that the requested documents are relevant and "could reasonably be expected to throw light on some of the issues in the principal proceedings." In this instance, the Tribunal found that it already possessed extensive information, including numerous allied health reports and interaction records lodged by the Respondent. Despite some outstanding requests, the Tribunal was not satisfied that the remaining requested documents met the threshold for relevance required to justify an order under section 37(2).

Consequently, the Tribunal declined to make an order under section 37(2) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) for the production of the outstanding documents.