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

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application by Mr Jackson for the reinstatement of his review application, which had been dismissed due to his failure to appear at the scheduled hearing. The dispute concerned Mr Jackson's entitlement to certain social security debts and the subsequent offset of Family Tax Benefit arrears against these debts.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Mr Jackson's application had been dismissed in error, and if not, whether the circumstances warranted the exercise of discretion to reinstate the application under section 42A of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth). This involved determining if Mr Jackson had provided sufficient evidence to justify his non-attendance and to persuade the Tribunal that reinstatement was appropriate.

The Tribunal found that Mr Jackson's application was not dismissed in error. While Mr Jackson claimed to have experienced accessibility issues and a recent car accident, he failed to provide any corroborating medical evidence. His submissions regarding the hearing date and the Tribunal's contact method were not supported by the Tribunal's records. The Tribunal noted that Mr Jackson had not claimed non-receipt of the listing notice or unawareness of the hearing date. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it was not appropriate to reinstate the application.

The Tribunal therefore refused Mr Jackson's application for the reinstatement of his review application.