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

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of Ms Paoli and the Secretary, Department of Social Services, concerning the automatic cancellation of Ms Paoli's age pension. The dispute arose when Centrelink automatically cancelled Ms Paoli's age pension under section 95(1) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth) due to her failure to respond to information requests regarding her income stream. These requests were purportedly sent to her myGov account, which had been set up by her late partner without her knowledge, and were not accessed by Ms Paoli or any other person.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the information requests were effectively "given" to Ms Paoli, whether this failure triggered the automatic cancellation provision, and if "special circumstances" existed to allow the Tribunal to exercise its discretion under section 95(2) to prevent the cancellation from applying. Furthermore, the Tribunal had to consider whether section 109 of the Act would limit the effect of any favourable determination made under section 95(2). Ms Paoli contended that she never received the notices, that her nominated representative was not properly informed, and that her ill health and grief following her partner's death contributed to her lack of awareness.

The Tribunal found that while Ms Paoli was technically "given" notice through her myGov account, it was satisfied that "special circumstances" existed due to her lack of knowledge of the account, her partner's death, and her subsequent ill health and grief. Consequently, the Tribunal exercised its discretion under section 95(2) to determine that the automatic cancellation provision did not apply to Ms Paoli from 28 March 2018. The Tribunal also concluded that section 109 did not limit the effect of this determination. The decision under review was set aside, and it was determined that Ms Paoli's age pension cancellation was taken not to have occurred, entitling her to back payments from 28 March 2018 to 5 February 2019.