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

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr Heydenrych against the rejection of his claims for Newstart Allowance (NSA) and Jobseeker Payment (JSP). Mr Heydenrych, an Australian citizen, travelled to South Africa on 17 January 2020 to visit his ill mother. While overseas, he lodged online claims for NSA and JSP, which were rejected by the Secretary, Department of Social Services, on the basis that he was not physically present in Australia at the time of lodging his claims. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether these rejections were correct.

The central legal issue before the AAT was whether Mr Heydenrych's claims for NSA and JSP were correctly rejected because he was not in Australia when he lodged them. This required the Tribunal to consider the application of section 29 of the *Social Security (Administration) Act 1999* (Cth), which sets out the general rule for making claims for social security payments.

The AAT reasoned that section 29(1) of the *Social Security (Administration) Act 1999* establishes a general rule that a claim for a social security payment can only be made by a person who is an Australian resident and is in Australia. Furthermore, section 29(2) states that a claim made when the claimant is not in Australia is taken not to have been made. The Tribunal noted that while there are exceptions to this general rule under sections 30, 30A, 31, and 31A of the Act, none of these exceptions applied to Mr Heydenrych's circumstances. The AAT found that the Act does not afford discretion in relation to the requirement that a claimant must be in Australia when lodging a claim. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision under review.