Gaudron and National Disability Insurance Agency

This matter concerned an application by Mr Gaudron for review of a decision made by the National Disability Insurance Agency. The applicant, Mr Gaudron, had died during the course of the review proceedings before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The central dispute was whether the Tribunal retained jurisdiction to continue the review application following the applicant's death.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant's death extinguished the Tribunal's jurisdiction to review the decision concerning his National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant plan. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the entitlement under review was of a nature that devolved upon the applicant's death, thereby allowing for a substitution of parties, or if the entitlement was personal and extinguished upon death.

The Tribunal applied the principles established in *Andreatta and Commissioner for Superannuation* and approved by the Federal Court in *V120/00A v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs*. These principles stipulate that where a statutory entitlement does not devolve upon death, the applicant's death extinguishes the entitlement and, consequently, the decision-maker's power to review it. The Tribunal found that Mr Gaudron's requests for funding for clothing and conference attendances under his NDIS plan were personal to him and arose from his specific disabilities, and were not rights that would devolve to his estate.

Accordingly, the Tribunal concluded that it no longer had jurisdiction to consider and determine the review application. The application was therefore dismissed under subsection 42A(4) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) on the basis that the decision was not reviewable by the Tribunal due to the abatement of the proceedings.