Grace Disability Services Australia Pty Ltd as Trustee for Gracemanor Services Trust and Commissioner of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission

This matter concerned applications before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) by Grace Disability Services Australia Pty Ltd as Trustee for Gracemanor Services Trust (the Applicant) seeking review of decisions made by the Commissioner of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. These decisions involved the suspension of the Applicant's registration as an NDIS provider and the refusal of its application for renewed registration. The Commissioner's decisions were based on concerns regarding the suitability of the Applicant's key personnel, Mr Pradeep Divakar and Ms Parvinder Kaur, who were also involved with other entities whose registrations as supported residential services had been revoked by the Victorian Human Services Regulator.

The primary legal issue before the AAT was whether to grant the Applicant's request to stay the proceedings before it until the finalisation of separate review proceedings concerning the revocation of related entities' registrations in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). The Applicant argued that the issues in the VCAT proceedings were intrinsically linked to those before the AAT, and proceeding with the AAT matters before the VCAT decisions were made would complicate the proceedings. The Commissioner indicated an openness to considering the stay, acknowledging the potential logic in the Applicant's submission.

The AAT, constituted by K. Parker SM, determined that it would grant the Applicant's request to hold the AAT applications in abeyance. The Tribunal reasoned that the interconnectedness of the matters before it and the VCAT proceedings warranted a temporary pause. The Tribunal scheduled a further interlocutory hearing for 17 November 2023 to revisit the question of whether the stay should continue beyond that date, indicating a willingness to manage the proceedings in light of the ongoing VCAT matters.