Kollias and National Disability Insurance Agency (No 2)

In *Kollias and National Disability Insurance Agency (No 2)*, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered a request by the applicant to issue summonses to two expert witnesses engaged by the respondent, the National Disability Insurance Agency. The applicant sought the production of documents from these witnesses, arguing it was necessary for the proper determination of the proceedings before the Tribunal.

The central legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant's request for the production of documents was for a legitimate forensic purpose and whether the requested documents were relevant to the substantive issues yet to be determined in the proceeding. The Tribunal also considered whether it should exercise its discretion under subsection 40A(2) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) to refuse the applicant's request.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant had not demonstrated a sufficient forensic purpose for the requested documents. It found that the request was not sufficiently particularised and that the applicant had not established a clear link between the documents sought and the issues to be determined. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it should exercise its discretion to refuse the request. The Tribunal ordered that the request to issue summonses to Rebecca Beileiter and Kerry O’Riley for the production of documents be refused.