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

This matter concerned an appeal by Ms Farinaccio against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which affirmed the Secretary of the Department of Social Services' rejection of her application for a Disability Support Pension (DSP). The core of the dispute revolved around whether Ms Farinaccio met the eligibility requirements for the DSP, specifically concerning the qualification period and the assignment of impairment ratings.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were to determine if Ms Farinaccio satisfied the criteria for a DSP, which involved assessing her eligibility as at 26 October 2018, the date her claim was lodged. This required the Tribunal to consider two distinct but equally important criteria: firstly, whether she had an impairment rating of at least 20 points under the Impairment Tables, and secondly, whether she had a continuing inability to work (CITW). The Impairment Tables are based on functional capacity rather than diagnosis, and an impairment must be permanent and likely to persist for more than two years to attract a rating.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the assessment of Ms Farinaccio's claimed conditions against the Impairment Tables. It was found that none of her claimed conditions attracted any impairment points. Consequently, Ms Farinaccio failed to satisfy the second qualification criterion under section 94(1)(b) of the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth), which requires a minimum impairment rating. As this criterion was not met, she did not qualify for the DSP.

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the AAT's decision of 2 December 2018, which in turn affirmed the Agency's decision of 28 June 2019 to reject Ms Farinaccio’s application for a DSP.