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

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision to cancel the applicant's special benefit. The applicant had been in receipt of special benefit from 3 September 2015. The Department of Social Services had cancelled this benefit on 7 December 2015 due to the applicant's failure to return a required review form. The benefit was temporarily restored when some information was provided, but subsequently cancelled again on 3 February 2016 due to the applicant's failure to provide further requested documentation, including bank statements and details regarding her partner's income. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) affirmed the cancellation decision on 23 January 2019, and the applicant subsequently sought review of this decision by the Federal Court.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether the notices issued by the Secretary were valid, whether the cancellation decisions were properly made under the relevant provisions of the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) and the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth), and whether the applicant had complied with the procedural requirements for seeking a review of the cancellation decision. Specifically, the court had to consider the effect of the applicant's ongoing failure to provide requested information and the time limits for lodging a review request.

The court reasoned that the Secretary had issued valid notices under sections 63, 192(d), and 196 of the Administration Act, requiring the applicant to provide information. The applicant's failure to comply with these notices, particularly the notice dated 20 January 2016, provided a proper basis for the cancellation of her special benefit under section 81(1) of the Act. The court noted that in the absence of the requested information, the Secretary had no discretion to restore the payment. Furthermore, even if the cancellation were deemed invalid, the applicant had failed to lodge a review request within the 13-week period prescribed by section 109(2) of the Act, which expired on 3 May 2016. The applicant's review request was not lodged until 17 September 2018.

The court affirmed the decision to cancel the applicant's special benefit. It found that the applicant had not complied with the statutory requirements for maintaining her entitlement to special benefit and had also failed to meet the time limits for seeking a review of the cancellation decision. Consequently, the applicant was not entitled to have her special benefit restored or backdated to the original cancellation date.