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

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr Isele against a decision of the Secretary of the Department of Social Services regarding his entitlement to an age pension. The dispute centred on how certain compensation payments should be treated when assessing his eligibility for the pension. The decision was made by Deputy President Bernard McCabe.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether issue estoppel applied to prevent Mr Isele from challenging the assessment of his compensation payments, given a previous consent decision. Relatedly, the Tribunal had to determine whether regular periodic compensation payments received after 1 May 1987, arising from an injury that occurred prior to that date, should be considered in the assessment of his age pension entitlement.

Deputy President Bernard McCabe P reasoned that issue estoppel did not apply in this instance. His Honour found that the regular periodic compensation payments were properly brought into consideration under section 1173(2) of the relevant legislation at the time each payment was received, as Mr Isele had lodged his claim for the compensation-affected payment after 1 May 1987. The Tribunal held that these regular payments were not to be retrospectively deemed as received at the time of the original injury.

Consequently, the decision under review was affirmed.