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

This matter concerned an application for a Disability Support Pension (DSP) by the applicant, Raines, against the Secretary of the Department of Social Services. The dispute centred on whether the applicant met the criteria for receiving a DSP, specifically regarding the assessment of her medical conditions and the resulting level of impairment. The decision was made by P J Clauson Am SM.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether the applicant's medical conditions were fully diagnosed, fully treated, and fully stabilised, and whether these conditions resulted in an impairment rating of 20 points or more under the relevant Impairment Tables. These assessments were crucial for determining if the applicant met the requirements of section 94 of the Social Security Act 1991, which mandates a physical, intellectual, or psychiatric impairment, a functional impairment of 20 points or more, and a continuing inability to work.

The court reasoned that under section 6(3) of the Social Security (Tables for the Assessment of Work–related Impairment for Disability Support Pension) Determination 2011, an Impairment Rating could only be assigned if the condition causing the impairment was permanent. Permanence, in this context, required the condition to be fully diagnosed, fully treated, and fully stabilised, with a greater than 50% likelihood of persisting for more than two years. As the applicant's conditions were not found to be fully diagnosed, treated, and stabilised, she could not be assigned the requisite 20 impairment points. Consequently, she failed to satisfy section 94(1)(b) of the Act and therefore did not qualify for the DSP.

Given this determination, the court found it unnecessary to consider the further criterion of a continuing inability to work. The decision under review was affirmed.