Oczenaschek and National Disability Insurance Agency

The applicant, Oczenaschek, sought review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of a decision by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) concerning their disability support plan. The core of the dispute involved the Tribunal's jurisdiction to consider additional supports that had not been put to the original decision-maker or the internal review decision-maker within the NDIA.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant's plan was ambulatory in nature, the scope of the CEO's approval power under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth), and consequently, the extent of the Tribunal's jurisdiction to consider supports not previously considered by the NDIA.

The Tribunal determined that its jurisdiction was limited to reviewing decisions made by the NDIA. It reasoned that the NDIA's decision-making process, including the initial approval of a participant's plan under section 33(2) and subsequent reviews under section 48, operates on the information and proposals presented at those stages. While a participant can request changes to their statement of goals and aspirations under section 47, this does not automatically grant the Tribunal jurisdiction to consider entirely new supports that were never put to the NDIA for a decision. The Tribunal's power to review is confined to the decisions that have actually been made by the NDIA.

Consequently, the Tribunal found it had no jurisdiction to consider the additional supports that had not been put to the NDIA.