O'Connor and Secretary, Department of Social Services (Social services second review)

This matter concerned an application for carer allowance and the applicant's claim that their entitlement should be backdated. The applicant also contended that the respondent breached a duty of care by failing to advise them of their entitlement to the allowance. The decision was made by C. J. Furnell SM.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant was entitled to a carer allowance and, if so, whether that entitlement could be backdated. A secondary issue was whether the respondent owed and breached a duty of care to the applicant by failing to inform them of their potential entitlement to the carer allowance.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision under review. Regarding the alleged breach of duty of care, the Tribunal noted that it lacked jurisdiction to award compensation for such a breach. Furthermore, the Tribunal observed that there is no general duty on the respondent to proactively advise prospective recipients of social security benefits about their specific entitlements, citing previous decisions of the Tribunal which held that it is not the responsibility of Centrelink to investigate circumstances and advise of changes in entitlements or legal rights to particular payments.