Pearce v Minister for Finance

In *Pearce v Minister for Finance*, heard by Judge Heffernan, the applicant sought judicial review of the Minister's decision not to authorise an act of grace payment under section 65 of the *Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013* (Cth). The applicant had failed to receive Parental Leave Pay (PLP) under the *Paid Parental Leave Act 2010* (Cth) due to incorrectly completing her application, a mistake attributed to her disability. She argued that the Minister's refusal to grant an act of grace payment was an improper exercise of power, involved an error of law, and was otherwise contrary to law.

The court was required to determine whether the Minister's decision involved an improper exercise of power, specifically by taking irrelevant considerations into account or failing to consider relevant ones, and whether the decision contained an error of law or was otherwise contrary to law. The applicant contended that the Minister wrongly considered the correct application of the *Paid Parental Leave Act 2010* (Cth) as a reason to deny an act of grace payment, that her disability should have been considered a "special circumstance" for an act of grace payment, and that other legislative frameworks and the broad intentions of the *Paid Parental Leave Act 2010* (Cth) were not sufficiently considered.

Judge Heffernan dismissed the application. The court found that the Minister's decision was not an improper exercise of power. The Minister correctly identified that the *Paid Parental Leave Act 2010* (Cth) did not provide for extensions of time or consideration of special circumstances, and that the act of grace mechanism was a remedy of last resort, not to be used when another viable remedy existed. The court also determined that the applicant's disability, while acknowledged, did not constitute a "special circumstance" in the context of the guidelines for act of grace payments, particularly as the applicant had not sought assistance to overcome her difficulties with the application process. The Minister's consideration of factors such as the Department of Human Services not contributing to the failure to lodge an effective claim and the existence of a statutory time limit for claims were found to be relevant considerations.