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

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an appeal by Mala concerning a debt owed to the Commonwealth arising from an overpayment of parenting payment. The dispute centred on whether the recovery of this debt should be written off or waived.

The Tribunal was required to determine two primary legal issues. Firstly, whether the applicant had received an amount of parenting payment exceeding her correct entitlement for the period between 13 May 2014 and 20 April 2015. Secondly, if an overpayment was established, whether the debt arising from that overpayment was recoverable, either in part or in full, and if the discretion to write off the debt should be exercised.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had indeed been overpaid parenting payment because her entitlement was calculated on the incorrect assumption that her partner earned $0.00 per fortnight, when in fact he earned $2,255.00 per fortnight during the relevant period. This resulted in a debt of $11,570.82 due to the Commonwealth under section 1223(1) of the *Social Security Act 1991* (Cth). The Tribunal then considered the discretion to write off the debt under section 1236(1A) of the Act, which lists circumstances such as irrecoverability at law, lack of capacity to repay, unknown whereabouts, or cost-effectiveness of recovery. The Tribunal concluded that no special circumstances applied to warrant the exercise of this discretion, nor were any of the conditions for writing off the debt met. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision under review.