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

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr McKenzie against a decision of the Secretary of the Department of Social Services regarding the date of effect for his Newstart Allowance (NSA). The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether Mr McKenzie was entitled to arrears of NSA from a date prior to his formal application for review.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was the application of section 109(2) of the *Administration Act*, which governs the date of effect for favourable determinations of social security payments. Specifically, the Tribunal had to consider whether the conditions precedent to a favourable determination taking effect from the date of application for review were met, namely whether Mr McKenzie had been given notice of the original decision and whether his application for review was made within 13 weeks of that notice.

The Tribunal found that section 109(2)(b) of the *Administration Act* was satisfied because, pursuant to section 109(7), Mr McKenzie was deemed to have been given notice of any increase in his NSA rate due to CPI adjustments. However, the Tribunal determined that Mr McKenzie's application for review, made on 5 October 2016, was more than 13 weeks after the last relevant CPI adjustment on 1 July 2016, thus satisfying section 109(2)(c). Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that, subject to its discretionary powers, Mr McKenzie could not be paid arrears of NSA prior to 5 October 2016, despite evidence that he had repeatedly notified Centrelink of his lack of income on numerous occasions between January 2015 and June 2016. The Tribunal affirmed the decision under review.