Lawton and Secretary, Department of Family and Community Services

[2003] AATA 270

Administrative

Appeals

Tribunal

 

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2003] AATA 270

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No Q2003/108

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE  DIVISION		)
Re		NICHOLAS LAWTON

Applicant

And SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Deputy President Don Muller

Date24 March 2003          

PlaceBrisbane

Decision The Tribunal refuses the application for an extension of time within which to apply to the Tribunal for review of a decision of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal dated 12 August 1999.

(Signed)

D.W. MULLER

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

CATCHWORDS

PROCEDURE – extension of time – long delay – prejudice to respondent – expectation of finality

REASONS FOR DECISION

Deputy President Don Muller       

1.      The Applicant studied for a Bachelor of Arts at Queensland University of Technology in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994.

2.      He applied for Austudy to continue with the course in Semester 2, 1996, and in 1997.  He was granted Austudy for Semester 2, 1996, but was not granted Austudy in 1997.

3.      When the extent of the Applicant’s study prior to 1996 was discovered by officers of Centrelink, a delegate of the Chief Executive Officer of Centrelink made a decision on 17 April 1998, that the Applicant was paid Austudy in Semester 2 of 1996 when he was not entitled to it and consequently incurred a debt to the Commonwealth of $2,124.18.

4.      The Applicant subsequently applied to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) for review of the Delegate’s decision and the SSAT gave the Applicant an extension of time within which to seek review.  On 12 August 1999, the SSAT decided to affirm the Delegate’s decision to impose the debt and recover it.

5.      The Applicant repaid the debt in full by 6 December 2000, by withholdings from his Disability Support Pension.

6.      On 6 February 2003 the Applicant made application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review the Delegate’s decision as affirmed by the SSAT.  That is, his application was made to the Tribunal more than three years after the decision of the SSAT.  The time limit under the relevant legislation is 28 days.

7.      The Applicant proposes to challenge the Delegate’s decision by attempting to introduce medical evidence, to retrospectively prove that he was unable to complete and/or pass certain subjects he did at Queensland University of Technology in 1993 and 1994, because of ill health and that consequently he should have been able to withdraw from the courses without the Queensland University of Technology applying a penalty.

8.      The Applicant claims that he was too ill to make the application to the AAT before February 2003.

9.      The Respondent has objected to the grant of the extension of time due to the extreme difficulty in attempting to respond to claims about the state of the Applicant’s health ten years ago and due to the apparent finality of the matter when the debt was repaid over two years ago.

10.     The Tribunal takes the view that the Respondent would be prejudiced if it had to now, for the first time, attempt to procure witnesses to give evidence about matters that occurred ten years ago.

11.     The Respondent was entitled to expect that the matter was closed in December 2000 when the debt had been repaid.

12.     The Tribunal rejects the Applicant’s claim that he was continuously too ill during the past three years to apply to the Tribunal.

I certify that the 12 preceding paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for the decision herein of Deputy President Don Muller

Signed:         .......................................................................................
           C. O’Donovan, Associate

Date/s of Hearing  19 March 2003
Date of Decision  24 March 2003
Applicant  Mr. Lawton, himself
Respondent  Mr. T. Ffrench, departmental advocate