Kazmierczak v Secretary, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

The applicant in this case, Kazmierczak, sought to appeal against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which had affirmed a decision of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) to assess the applicant’s disability support pension based on his wife’s employment income. The AAT's decision was based on provisions of the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) which provide for the reduction of disability support pensions based on the income of a couple. The applicant argued that the AAT should not have treated him as a member of a couple due to "special reasons" in his particular case. The legal issue in this appeal was whether the AAT erred in law by not finding that there were special reasons to not treat the applicant as a member of a couple. The applicant argued that the compensation payment he received for his injuries was inadequate, and that it was unfair for him to rely on his wife’s income to meet expenses related to his disability. Additionally, he argued that it was unfair for his wife to be deprived of the opportunity to have a full life and to make superannuation contributions.

The court found that it was open to the AAT to not be satisfied that there were special reasons to not treat the applicant as a member of a couple. The court noted that the requirement for "special reasons" is not extremely unusual, uncommon or exceptional, but rather requires something unusual and different to take the matter out of the ordinary course. The court found that the applicant's arguments did not constitute special reasons for not treating him as a member of a couple. The court also found that the AAT did not err in law and that there was no basis for the applicant's appeal. Therefore, the application was dismissed and the applicant was ordered to pay the respondent's costs of the application.