FVLY and Child Support Registrar (Child support second review)
[2025] ARTA 2181
•17 October 2025
FVLY and Child Support Registrar (Child support second review) [2025] ARTA 2181 (17 October 2025)
Applicant/s: FVLY
Respondent: Child Support Registrar
Tribunal Numbers: 2024/3680
2024/3692
Tribunal:Senior Member A Suthers (second review)
Place:Perth
Date:17 October 2025
Decision:The Tribunal affirms the decisions under review.
Statement made on 17 October 2025 at 9:41am
Names used in all published decisions are pseudonyms. Any references appearing in square brackets indicate that information has been removed from this decision and replaced with generic information so as not to identify involved individuals as required by subsections 16(2AB)–16(2AC) of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 (Cth).
CATCHWORDS
CHILD SUPPORT – second review of AAT Social Security Child Support Division decision on applications for extensions of time to seek first review – decision under review affirmed – extensions of time refused.
LEGISLATION
Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth)
Administrative Review Tribunal (Consequential and Transitional Provisions No.1) Act 2024 (Cth)
Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth)
Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 (Cth)
Child Support (Assessment) Regulations 2018 (Cth)
CASES
BRISBANE SOUTH REGIONAL HEALTH AUTHORITY V TAYLOR (1996) 186 CLR 541
BROWN V FEDERAL COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION [1999] FCA 563
DAVID AND HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA [2009] AATA 448
DOYLE V CHIEF OF STAFF (1982) 42 ALR 283
ENGLEZOS V SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES [2023] FCA 31
Frugtniet v Australian Securities and Investments Commission [2019] HCA 16G v MIBP [2018] FCA 1229
Hunter Valley Developments Pty Ltd v Cohen [1984] FCA 176; (1984) 3 FCR 344
Ketteman v Hansel Properties Ltd (1987) 1 AC 189
Lucic v Nolan [1982] FCA 217
McDonald v Director-General of Social Security [1984] FCA 57; (1984) 1 FCR 354
NLLQ and Child Support Registrar [2023] AATA 867
Paino and Secretary, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations [2006] AATA 951
Ralkon v Aboriginal Development Commission (1982) 43 ALR 535
Re Commonwealth of Australia; Ex Parte Marks [2000] HCA 67
Re Drake and Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (No 2) (1979) 2 ALD 634
SECONDARY MATERIALS
Department of Social Services, Guides to Social Policy Law: Child Support Guide
Statement of Reasons
SUMMARY
The Applicant and JZNB (‘the parents’) are the parents of three children; however the decisions under review concern only one of the children.
The Applicant seeks review of two decisions of the Social Services & Child Support Division of the former Administrative Appeals Tribunal (‘AAT’) made on 15 May 2024 that refused him an extension of time to apply for review of two decisions made by the Respondent on 3 October 2023 (‘AAT decisions’).
The AAT decisions related to the refusals of extensions of time (‘EOT Objection decisions’) to object to two original decisions, both of which applied a provisional adjusted taxable (ATI) income for the Applicant in the child support assessment.
The two original decisions were:
(a)On 18 July 2020, the Respondent made the decision to apply a provisional income for the Applicant of $51,151.00 for the 2019/20 financial year to the child support assessment from 1 September 2020 to 30 November 2021; and
(b)On 23 October 2021, the Respondent made the decision to apply a provisional income for the Applicant of $52,638.00 for the 2020/21 financial year to the child support assessment from 1 December 2021 to 3 February 2022.
Simply put, those decisions were made on the basis that the Respondent received no updated evidence as to the Applicant’s income after receiving the Applicant’s financial year 2017/18 tax return, and the relevant legislation[1] allows the Respondent to use a ‘provisional’ income in those circumstances, which may be calculated as ‘2/3 MTAWE’. In other words, an amount determined by reference to an objective standard.
[1] s 58(4) of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth).
On 29 June 2021, Services Australia collected $20,000 from the Applicant via a garnishee notice issued pursuant to s 72A of the Child Support Registration and Collection Act 1998 (Cth) (‘Collection Act’). At the time the Applicant was assessed to owe $27,333.72 in arrears of child support and a further amount in late payment penalties.
What the Respondent did not know was that the Applicant had moved to live in Germany in December 2017. Child Support’s correspondence was being sent to a Tasmanian address the Applicant had provided in 2014. The Applicant acknowledges that he never updated his address with the Respondent. The correspondence was also being uploaded to the Applicant’s myGov account, which the Applicant had also authorised as a manner in which he would accept service of correspondence from the Respondent in 2014, but he maintains he was not accessing it.
The Applicant assumed that the Respondent would have his correct details because he moved to New South Wales in 2015 and collected Centrelink benefits. He thought the Respondent would know he left the country in 2017 because there would be immigration records to that effect.
He says that workers in Germany do not routinely lodge taxation returns. Once he found out that the Respondent was using his provisional income in the assessment, and where his true income was much lower, he says he offered to update his income information but was told by officers of Child Support that it was too late for him to do so.
On 12 June 2023, the Applicant applied for an extension of time to object to the original decisions made on 18 July 2020 and 23 October 2021.
On 3 October 2023, a delegate of the Respondent made the EOT Objection decisions, under s 83(1) of the Collection Act. Notices of each decision were sent to the Applicant on the same day online via his myGov account. The notice of each decision informed the Applicant of his review rights.
Records maintained by Services Australia -- Child Support (‘Child Support’[2]) indicate that the Applicant’s myGov account was accessed on 19 October 2023 at 20:35:59 until 20:51:25 and then again on 20 February 2024. More generally, the records indicate the Applicant’s myGov account was accessed on various dates in 2023.
[2] The entity administered by the Respondent.
On 6 March 2024, by email, the Applicant applied to the AAT for an extension of time to seek review of the EOT Objection decisions.
On 15 May 2024, the AAT refused the extension of time applications under s 92(1) of the Collection Act.
The Applicant then promptly applied to the General Division of the AAT for further review of the AAT decisions.
On 14 October 2024, the AAT was replaced by the Administrative Review Tribunal (the Tribunal). An application for review by the AAT that was not finalised before 14 October 2024 is taken to be an application for review by the Tribunal, and the Tribunal has the authority to continue and finalise any aspect of the review that was not completed by the AAT.[3]
[3] Administrative Review Tribunal (Consequential and Transitional Provisions No.1) Act 2024 (Cth).
THE HEARING AND THE EVIDENCE
I heard the matters on 29 July 2025. The Applicant gave evidence and made submissions. The JZNB had elected not to participate, other than to confirm that she opposed the grant of either extension of time. She was removed as a party. The Respondent provided written submissions as to the law to be applied, and appeared through Mr Taverniti, a solicitor. It also opposed a grant of either extension of time.
I also had regard to a hearing bundle containing the material lodged by the Applicant and the Respondent (Exhibit 1).
At the hearing, I raised with the Respondent whether, if the Applicant were now to provide evidence of his income in the relevant periods, the Respondent might have a power, and be willing to exercise it, to retrospectively recalculate the Applicant’s liability under the assessment. I asked the Respondent to consider s 58A of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth) (‘Act’) in that regard and gave the Applicant the opportunity to provide that information to the Respondent, which he did after the hearing. In submissions received after the hearing, the Respondent confirmed that it would be open to it to vary the assessment but submitted that it could not do so retrospectively in the circumstances of this matter. As such, the Respondent submitted there was no apparent merit in the Applicant obtaining extensions of time in which to lodge his review applications, because the child support assessment had ended on 3 February 2022 when the last relevant child of the assessment had turned 18.
For the following reasons, I will affirm the AAT decisions.
OVERVIEW OF LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK
It is necessary to set out, to an extent, the law and relevant policy to be considered.
The Act provides for Child Support to make an administrative assessment of child support. Child Support does so by reference to the relevant legislation and to the Child Support Guide (‘Guide’) published by the Department of Social Services,[4] where relevant. The Guide contains governmental guidelines and statements of policy as to how the relevant legislation is to be applied.
[4] Department of Social Services, Guides to Social Policy Law: Child Support Guide.
A parent of a relevant child may apply for an administrative assessment. If the necessary conditions are met, Child Support must make the assessment using a formula containing variables such as the parents’ adjusted taxable incomes, and the respective percentages of care they provide to the children.
Ordinarily, a parent’s child support income for purpose of the assessment is calculated from their ‘adjusted taxable income’, by reference to their taxable income for the last relevant year of income (‘LRYI’).
Section 58 of the Act makes provision for what the Respondent is to do when the parent’s taxable income for the LRYI has not been assessed under an Income Tax Assessment Act or if the Respondent is unable to ascertain whether or not the parent’s taxable income for that year has been so assessed.[5] It provides the Respondent with five qualified options.
[5] Section 58(1) of the Act.
Section 58(2) allows the Respondent to make a determination based on other information available as to the parent’s income, whether in the form of written or oral evidence.
Section 58(2A) allows the Respondent to use ‘1/3 MTAWE’ as the child support income for a parent who is not required to lodge a return under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) (‘ITAA’). The reference to ‘MTAWE’ is to a term defined in s 5A of the Act which is set by reference to the ‘Average Weekly Earnings—Trend—Males—All Employees Total Earnings’ in a document published by the Australian Statistician entitled ‘Average Weekly Earnings, Australia’.
Section 58(3) allows the Respondent to use an indexed figure as the child support income for a parent if the Respondent has the parent’s income assessed under the ITAA for the year prior to the LRYI.
Section 58(4) of the Act, which was applied in the original decisions provides that:
Determination by the Registrar of a parent’s adjusted taxable income
…
(4) If:
(a) the parent’s taxable income for the previous year has not been assessed under an Income Tax Assessment Act; but
(b) the parent’s taxable income for an earlier year of income has been so assessed;
the Registrar may determine that the parent’s adjusted taxable income for the last relevant year of income is the greater of the following amounts:
(c) the amount worked out by multiplying the parent’s adjusted taxable income for the earlier year of income (or, if the parent’s taxable income has been so assessed for more than one earlier year of income, the most recent of those years) by the ATI indexation factor;
(d) the amount that is equal to two-thirds of the annualised MTAWE figure for the relevant June quarter in relation to the relevant period.
Section 58(5) can only apply if subsections (2), (2A), (3) and (4) do not apply in relation to the parent or the Respondent decides not to make a determination in relation to the parent under one of those subsections. It then allows the Respondent to use a figure of ‘at least 2/3 MTAWE’ as the parent’s child support income.
Section 58A of the Act provides that, relevantly:
Subsequently ascertaining components of a parent’s adjusted taxable income
(1) The Registrar must immediately amend an administrative assessment of child support payable by or to a parent in relation to a child support period if:
(a) the assessment was made on the basis of a determinationunder section 58; and
(b) either:
(i) the Registrar subsequently ascertains the amount of the parent’s adjusted taxable income for the last relevant year of income; or
…
(c) either:
(i) if subparagraph (b)(i) applies—the amount that was subsequently ascertained is different from the amount that was determined under section 58; or
…
Retrospective determinations
(2) If:
(a) at the time the Registrar is to amend the administrative assessment under this section, the parent could lodge his or her tax return by the date required under Part IV of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (taking into account any deferral under section 388-55 in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953); or
…
then the Registrar must immediately amend the administrative assessment for the child support period on the basis that the parent’s adjusted taxable income for that year of income is, and has always been, the amount that was subsequently ascertained or later determined (as the case requires).
Prospective determinations
(3) If subsection (2) does not apply, then the Registrar must immediately amend the administrative assessment for the childsupport period on the basis that for each later day in the period the parent’s adjusted taxable income for that year of income is the amount that was subsequently ascertained or later determined (as the case requires).
The Applicant’s objection was to the particulars of the administrative assessment of child support in respect of the child – within the meaning of item 11 in the table in s 80 of the Collection Act.
Under s 81 of the Collection Act, as the Applicant was a resident of Germany – a ‘reciprocating jurisdiction’, the Applicant’s objections were required to be lodged within 90 days after the respective notices of the original decisions were served on him.
In considering the Applicant’s application for an extension of time to lodge his objections to the two original decisions, the objections officer was to decide whether to grant or refuse the application, and if the application was granted, to deal with the objection under s 87(1) of the Collection Act.
The EOT Objection decisions made under s 83(1) of the Collection Act were reviewable by the AAT under item 1 of the table in s 89(1). An application for review of those decisions, noting the Applicant’s residence in a reciprocating jurisdiction, was required by s 90 of the Collection Act to be lodged within 90 days after being served notice of those decisions.
The Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) (‘ET Act’) contains provisions for when electronic communications are taken to have been received. Section 14A provides, relevantly:
14A Time of receipt
(1) For the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth, unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of an electronic communication:
(a) the time of receipt of the electronic communication is the time when the electronic communication becomes capable of being retrieved by the addressee at an electronic address designated by the addressee; or
…
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee of the electronic communication, it is to be assumed that the electronic communication is capable of being retrieved by the addressee when it reaches the addressee’s electronic address.
(3) Subsection (1) applies even though the place where the information system supporting an electronic address is located may be different from the place where the electronic communication is taken to have been received under section 14B.
The effect of paragraph 14A(1)(a) of the ET Act is that the electronic communication relating to the EOT Objection decisions made on 3 October 2023, were taken to be received by the Applicant when they became capable of being retrieved from the Applicant’s myGov account on 3 October 2023.
Therefore, the 90-day period expired on 1 January 2024. The Applicant lodged his application for an extension of time in which to seek review of the EOT objection decisions on 6 March 2024; or 65 days out of time.
Section 91 of the Collection Act relevantly allows an eligible person to make an application for review in the Tribunal (at that time the AAT) that includes a written application (the extension application) requesting the Tribunal to consider the application for review despite the ending of the period allowed to lodge the application for review.
Under section 92 of that Act, the Tribunal must consider, and either grant or refuse that application.
A person whose interests are affected by a first review decision of this nature may seek second review in the Tribunal. The application for second review was filed within the prescribed time and I have jurisdiction and power to conduct this second review due to the combined effect of s 131D(1) of the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth) (‘ART Act’), read with ss 12, 105 and 131C(c) of the ART Act.
There is no presumption that the AAT decisions are correct.[6]
[6] McDonald v Director General of Social Security [1984] FCA 57; (1984) 1 FCR 354, 357.
I ‘stand in the shoes’[7] of the AAT, in that I am to determine for myself, on the material before me, the decision which can, and which I consider should, be made in the exercise of the power or powers conferred on the AAT for the purpose of making the decision whether to extend time to allow review of the EOT Objection decisions.[8]
[7] Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Pochi (1980) 31 ALR 666 at 671 per Smithers J.
[8] Frugtniet v Australian Securities and Investments Commission [2019] HCA 16, [51] discussing relevantly indistinguishable provisions of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth).
The overarching principle to be applied where an extension of time is sought, and the relevant legislation provides no explicit mandatory considerations that direct the exercise of the discretion, is that the Tribunal should consider any pertinent factors to determine ‘what the justice of the case requires.’[9]
[9] Brown v Federal Commissioner of Taxation [1999] FCA 563, [59].
The starting position where the law provides a fixed period of time to make an application, subject to extension, is that proceedings commenced outside the statutory time limit will not be entertained.[10]
[10] Lucic v Nolan [1982] FCA 217.
In considering the extension application, the Tribunal is only required to conduct a preliminary assessment of the apparent merit of the substantive application, not to fully hear and determine it.
When considering extensions in respect of applications of this nature, the Tribunal has commonly drawn on a line of authority that includes Hunter Valley Developments Pty Ltd v Cohen (Hunter Valley)[11] and Englezos v Secretary, Department of Social Services.[12] Those decisions provide guidance by the Court on extensions of time to appeal from the AAT to the Court.
[11] [1984] FCA 176; (1984) 3 FCR 344.
[12] [2023] FCA 31.
Some care must be taken when transposing such guidance to a different context, to ensure that it is not considered to fetter the exercise of the discretion, or to raise permissible considerations to the status of being mandatory. However, I agree that the considerations set out in those decisions are all permissible, and commonly relevant considerations in respect of applications of this nature. They provide a helpful framework to consider such applications and include:
(1) Whether the substantive application has reasonable prospects of success: Hunter Valley at [22];
(2) The length of the delay: Ralkon v Aboriginal Development Commission;[13]
(3) The explanation for the delay: Hunter Valley at [18], Doyle v Chief of Staff[14](the inclusion of s 91(2) of the Collection Act indicates that the ‘reasons for the person’s failure to apply for the review within the period’ are a mandatory consideration in the context of this application);
(4) Any prejudice to the parties or persons affected by the decision: Hunter Valley at [20]; and
(5) The public interest: Brisbane South Regional Health Authority v Taylor.[15]
[13] (1982) 43 ALR 535 at 550.
[14] (1982) 42 ALR 283 at 287
[15] (1996) 186 CLR 541.
Further, I agree with comments made by Senior Member O’Donovan of the former Administrative Appeals Tribunal in NLLQ and Child Support Registrar[16] at paragraph 4, that:
In this particular statutory context, the reasons for delay and the effect on the orderly payment of child support should be scrutinised very closely. It should also be noted that a statutory context where multiple opportunities are given to address the merits of a decision is very distant from a first instance application to a court on a question of the lawfulness of conduct.
[16] [2023] AATA 867.
CONSIDERATION
I start my consideration by recording that the Applicant has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and has a visual impairment. A report of Dr Lebenshilfe dated 7 July 2024 indicates that:
[FVLY] has an autism spectrum disorder. This alone presents him with great challenges in everyday life. It challenges him every day in external communication, in structuring and the need for perfection and recurring processes, stability and much more. His sister is at his side for all social requirements, for general scheduling, for preparing meals and for taking care of his basic personal needs, as he cannot manage this without a translator (social translation) and her structuring help. Until last year, the 63-year-old was in excellent health. He could at least drive around, fetch materials, etc., but his now elderly sister had to take over all communication issues due to autism.
With his eye disease, which results in a total restriction of his right field of vision, he loses the last possibility of autonomy and mobility (he can no longer drive a car) and a serious restriction of his spatial vision and thus of all everyday practice…
…
Neurologically, he cannot perform all the tasks that he could easily manage cognitively. That takes time and therapy.
…
I will take that into account when determining issues around how the Applicant conducted himself, relevantly to the history of this review.
The prospects of the Applicant achieving a more favourable outcome if the extension is granted and the review proceeds
As I will come to, there is evidence that the Applicant’s income may have been much lower than the provisional amount applied in the assessment at the relevant times. If he could now have the assessment amended to reflect that income, it would obviously be advantageous to him.
However the Respondent submits that when both of the original decisions were made the Respondent did not have ATO assessed information for the Applicant in the LRYI, and that is still the case. That enlivens the application of s 58 of the Act.
The Respondent accepts that the power to exercise s 58(4) was discretionary, as indicated by the use of the word ‘may’ in the section. However, the Respondent submits that s 58 sits within Division 7 of Part 5 of the Act, which is concerned with ascertaining a parent’s taxable income and adjusted taxable income (ATI). Ascertaining a parent’s taxable income, and in turn their ATI, is necessary in order to work out a person’s ‘child support income,’ of which ATI is a core component.[17] Working out a person’s child support income is the first step in each of the assessment formulae.[18] The identification of a person’s ATI is thus an express requirement of each of the formulae for the administrative assessment of child support.
[17] s 41 of the Act.
[18] ss 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40 of the Act.
Section 58 permits the Respondent to determine an amount that is the person’s ATI for the LRYI. In this way, s 58 provides the Respondent a final suite of options from which to choose in order to determine an amount representing a person’s ATI to be used in the administrative assessment of child support.
So understood, once the initial hurdle of s 58(1) is cleared, the Respondent submits that the resultant decision-making process must produce a figure to be used in the administrative assessment. On that basis, if all necessary extensions of time were granted, the Respondent acknowledges that it would be open for an objections officer to reconsider whether to make determinations under s 58(4) or another of the determination making powers in s 58, depending upon the state of the evidence at the time of decision.
After the hearing, the Applicant provided the Respondent with documents apparently generated by the ATO titled ‘Customer Copy Only’ which seemingly acknowledged lodgment of the Applicant’s FY 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 taxation returns. Unsurprisingly, those documents disclosed no Australian taxable income for the Applicant. However they disclosed non-resident foreign income for the Applicant of $24,898, $39,790, $33,722 and $20,216 respectively.
The Respondent submits that those documents appear to reflect the Applicant’s self-assessed amounts of income for the relevant years, both in Australia and overseas. However, they do not indicate whether the amounts of income were assessed under an ‘Income Tax Assessment Act’ as defined in the Act. Nor, in the Respondent’s submission, would those printouts alone enable a decision-maker to work out the amount of the applicant’s ATI in the relevant years. As such, the Respondent submits that this material would be unlikely to lead an objections officer to make different determinations under s 58 were the substantive objections to be entertained.
The Respondent also acknowledged having subsequently been notified by the ATO that, on 4 July 2025, a notice of assessment was issued to the Applicant in respect of his taxable income for the 2018/19 financial year. The amount assessed was $0. The Respondent acknowledges that this information would be capable of grounding an objection decision-maker’s satisfaction that the conditions for the exercise of the discretion in s 58(3) are met with respect to the child support period of 1 September 2020 to 30 November 2021, on the basis that the 2018/19 financial year was the year of income prior to the LRYI for that period. It would also be capable of grounding an objection decision-maker’s satisfaction that the conditions for the exercise of the discretion in s 58(4) are met with respect to the child support period of 1 December 2021 to 3 February 2022, on the basis that the 2018/19 financial year was an earlier year of income relative to the LRYI for that period.
However, the Respondent submits that due to the effect of s 58A of the Act, any such decision could only apply prospectively from the date that the new decision is made, meaning that it would have no practical effect since the assessment has now ended.
In light of the applicant’s $0 taxable income, the Respondent contends that s 58A(1)(b)(i) would be applicable to the Applicant’s circumstances. That provision requires a new assessment to be made. As s 58A(1)(b)(i) would be met, a decision-maker must then consider whether the new assessment applies retrospectively or prospectively. A retrospective determination will only be available if one of the three limbs in s 58A(2) is satisfied:
(a)The first limb provides that if the person could not lodge their tax return by the date required in Part IV of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, then the assessment will apply retrospectively. However, the Respondent submits that the Applicant plainly had some access to the internet as he was able to lodge his objections and make this application. Further, the report of Dr Lebenshilfe states that the Applicant was in ‘excellent health’ until ‘last year’ (2023). Given the Applicant’s access to the internet and the lack of health barriers, the Respondent submits that the Tribunal should not be satisfied that the Applicant could not lodge his relevant tax returns by the required date. As such, s 58A(2)(a) could not be satisfied.
(b)The second limb requires that, if s 58A(2)(a) does not apply, then the amount subsequently ascertained for the purposes of s 58A(1)(b)(i), is higher than the original amount determined under s 58, which is not the case here.
(c)The third limb (s 58A(2)(c)) requires the decision-maker to consider the Child Support (Assessment) Regulations 2018 (Cth) (‘Regulations’). A threefold test is provided at reg 11 of the Regulations. Whilst the Respondent acknowledges that the Applicant could be said to satisfy the first of those requirements because he lives in a remote location which made it difficult to contact the Respondent (reg 11(1)(a)(iv)), the Respondent contends that reg 11(b) and (c) cannot be satisfied in that, to date the Respondent has not confirmed that the Applicant was unable to provide the information at that time because of that circumstance. Nor did the Applicant provide the relevant information to the Respondent. Rather, the relevant information was provided by the ATO to the Respondent after the Applicant supplied other information. As such, the Respondent submits that the Tribunal should not be satisfied that s 58A(2)(c) is met. Accordingly, it would not be open to find that the new assessment can apply retrospectively.
Unfortunately, the Respondent seems to have misunderstood my reference to s 58A of the Act. I was asking the Respondent to consider whether it would be appropriate to make a new decision under that provision, based on the information now available about the Applicant’s income. The reason for that is because, if a determination favourable to the Applicant was made, it may have led to a situation where the Applicant saw no utility in proceeding to seek to object to the original decisions.
It is important not to lose sight of the fact that these proceedings (leaving aside the necessary extensions of time) concern whether the correct or preferable decision was made to apply s 58(4) when determining the Applicant’s child support income. As the Respondent correctly concedes, on the information now available it would be open to an objections officer to use an indexed amount (I infer from a $0 base), for the periods encompassed in the original decisions.
It would clearly be beneficial to the Applicant were an objections officer to do so, but other factors need to be considered.
The evidence of the Applicant’s non-resident foreign income would weigh against the exercise of the discretion under s 58(3) and then 58(4) to determine an indexed income from a $0 base. Rather, the most favourable outcome for the Applicant would most likely be the application of s 58(2) of the Act to his disclosed non-resident foreign income. Whilst it may not represent his ATI as defined, taken with further evidence the Applicant could presumably provide in an objection process it may allow the Respondent to be reasonably satisfied as to a reasonable approximation of the Applicant’s ATI in the relevant years. If that occurred, it would likely represent a lower figure than was represented by the provisional income amounts used in the assessment.
I think the objections officer would also need to consider the prejudice that would now be occasioned to JZNB in exercising a discretion to apply s 58 differently, having regard to the information about the Applicant’s income that has only now become available. Doing so would likely create a debt owed by JZNB through overpayment based on the assessment as it stood until it ended.
It is then necessary to factor in the Applicant’s delay. In explaining his delay in lodging objections to the original decisions, the Applicant says that he only became aware of the fact that Child Support were using his provisional income when his funds were garnisheed.
That may be so, but as anyone involved in a child support assessment knows, Child Support send out regular correspondence to the parties to the assessment, updating the assessment from time to time. The Applicant must have been aware that he had not received such correspondence since moving from Tasmania. Having elected to receive correspondence from Child Support via his myGov account in the past, he must also have known that he could access that correspondence in that manner, if he so chose. Whilst the Applicant said he had limited access to the internet due to his remote location, he eventually accessed his account to learn to lodge his objections, and evidence in support of them. I am satisfied that whilst he may have experienced difficulties accessing the internet, he could do so if required. That, together with the obstacles he faces in having the discretion under s 58 of the Act exercised differently that I have identified above, means he has far from clear prospects of obtaining a better outcome through an objections process, if granted an extension of time to lodge his objections.
For those reasons, I do not consider the applications for review to have strong apparent prospects of resulting in a more favourable determination for the Applicant if the extension of time to review the EOT Objection decisions is granted.
However, I think that the parties should consider whether the Respondent has now made a separate reviewable decision not to retrospectively amend the assessment under s 58A.
The length of and explanation for the delay in lodging the application for first review
In respect of this subsequent delay, the Applicant says that it was caused by him not receiving the letters posted to him and through him not accessing his myGov account, where they were provided electronically.
He asserts that it was not him who accessed his myGov account on 19 October 2023. He says that JZNB was aware of his login details, and surmises that she must have been accessing his account.
The Respondent contends that service of the EOT Objection decisions on the Applicant occurred when notice of those decisions was sent to the Applicant electronically via his myGov account on 3 October 2023. Noting that the Applicant’s myGov account was accessed on 19 October 2023, for 15 minutes, the Respondent says the Applicant’s delay in not lodging his application for review until 6 March 2024 is substantial and should weigh heavily against an extension of time. Whilst acknowledging the Applicant’s assertion that it was not him who accessed his myGov account, the Respondent says that, nonetheless, the Applicant had access to his account throughout the relevant period. The Respondent points out that each relevant decision provided to the Applicant pointed out that he had review rights and that time limits applied.[19]
[19] The correspondence advised the Applicant that he had 28 days in which to seek each relevant review, as the Respondent was unaware the Applicant was not in Australia.
Whilst I am prepared to accept the Applicant’s evidence about not accessing his myGov account on 19 October 2023, that does not fully explain his delay.
Having lodged his applications for an extension to lodge his objections, I find it quite incongruous that the Applicant would not check his account for an outcome before February 2024, or otherwise update his contact details with Child Support, although I do accept that his autism spectrum disorder may have contributed to that outcome.
The length of, and reason for the Applicant’s delay weighs against an extension being granted, however I will give this far less weight than I might otherwise, due to the Applicant’s medical conditions and remote location.
Any prejudice to the parties or persons affected by the decision
There is obvious prejudice to FVLY if an extension of time is not granted, as his application for review will not proceed and he will be precluded from the possibility of a more favourable outcome. I do note, however, that the Respondent has remitted any relevant late payment penalties applied to the Applicant, which reduces the prejudice to him somewhat.
There is no material prejudice to the Respondent if the extension is granted. Whilst the Respondent submitted that there are costs borne by the Commonwealth in the conduct of proceedings that have low prospects of success, I note that the Respondent generally does not appear in first review proceedings of this nature, which means the cost if the extension is granted would be minimal insofar as the subsequent first review proceedings are concerned.
I also need to take into account JZNB’s position. She made a written submission opposing an extension of time.
As the courts have noted, albeit in the context of judicial proceedings where the level of prejudice may be higher, there is always a level of prejudice to a party to contested proceedings where expectations change, and finality is not achieved.[20] There may also be a debt caused by overpayment if the review proceeds and the Applicant succeeds in lowering his assessment, in circumstances where JZNB had ordered her life around and utilised the child support she has received based on the assessment as it applied at the time, and after the time for lodgment of objections to the original decisions had passed.
[20] See for example Ketteman v Hansel Properties Ltd (1987) 1 AC 189, per Lord Griffiths at 220.
The public interest
The public interest generally weighs against an extension of time, noting that the 90-day time limit that applied to FVLY is prescribed by legislation and indicates Parliament’s intention that there ought to be finality in government decisions.[21] The interests of those applicants who do comply with the prescribed time limits may be unsettled by perceptions of unfairness and uncertainty if an extension of time is granted where the justice of the case does not permit that this should occur.[22] This is tempered, though, by the public’s expectation that administrative decisions should be correct, and that a process exists for review, if necessary after an extension of time is granted.
[21] Re Commonwealth of Australia; Ex Parte Marks [2000] HCA 67, [16] (McHugh J).
[22] David and High Court of Australia [2009] AATA 448; Paino and Secretary, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations [2006] AATA 951.
Conclusion as to the extension application
Weighing the considerations I have identified in respect of the application; I am not satisfied that I should exercise my discretion to grant an extension of time for the Applicant to seek review of the EOT Objection decisions. As that was the outcome of the AAT decisions, they must be affirmed.
DECISION
The Tribunal affirms the decisions under review.
I certify that the preceding eighty-three (83) paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for the decision herein of Senior Member Suthers
.........[SGD]...............................................................
Associate
Dated: 17 October 2025
Date of hearing: 23 July 2025 Applicant: Self-represented Solicitors for the Respondent: Mr Aaron Taverniti, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
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