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

The applicant, Mr Elliott, sought the reinstatement of an application to review a decision by the Secretary to enter into an agreement under section 181 of the *Social Security (Administration) Act 1999* (Cth). The matter came before Deputy President S A Forgie of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to review Mr Elliott's application for reinstatement, specifically in light of the wording of section 144(s) of the *Social Security (Administration) Act 1999* and its relationship to section 181 of the same Act. The Tribunal was required to determine if there had been a reviewable decision that would permit the reinstatement of Mr Elliott's original application.

Deputy President Forgie reasoned that section 144(s) of the *Social Security (Administration) Act 1999* should be interpreted as referring to section 181 of that Act. The Tribunal concluded that the decision to enter into an agreement under section 181 was not a reviewable decision for the purposes of section 144(s). Consequently, there was no reviewable decision upon which Mr Elliott's application for reinstatement could be based.

The Tribunal therefore refused Mr Elliott's application for reinstatement.