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

This matter concerned an appeal by Ms Lyons against a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services regarding her eligibility for a disability support pension. The core of the dispute revolved around whether Ms Lyons' various impairments were permanent and whether, when assessed under the relevant Impairment Tables, they attracted a rating of 20 or more points. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was tasked with determining these issues.

The legal questions before the Tribunal were twofold: firstly, whether Ms Lyons suffered from impairments that met the criteria under section 94(1)(a) of the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) during the qualification period. Secondly, and more critically, the Tribunal had to determine if these impairments attracted an impairment rating of 20 or more points under section 94(1)(b) of the Act, which required the impairments to be permanent and likely to persist for more than two years.

The Tribunal reasoned that the Impairment Tables are function-based and assess the functional impact of an impairment, not the condition itself. For an impairment rating to be assigned, the condition causing the impairment must be permanent, meaning it has been fully diagnosed, fully treated, fully stabilised, and is likely to persist for more than two years. The Tribunal acknowledged several impairments suffered by Ms Lyons, including nasal, visual, frontal lobe, chronic pain and fatigue, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, and depression. However, the provided text focuses on the criteria for assessing permanence and does not detail the Tribunal's final conclusion on whether the 20-point threshold was met.