Scully and Secretary, Department of Employment

This matter concerned an application for review before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, brought by Scully against the Secretary of the Department of Employment. The dispute centred on the Secretary's decision to refuse a request for an extension of time to lodge an application for review.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the Secretary's decision to refuse an extension of time under section 38(2) of the relevant legislation was a reviewable decision. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if it possessed jurisdiction to consider an application where the primary issue was the refusal to grant additional time to lodge an appeal.

The Deputy President determined that a decision to refuse an extension of time under section 38(2) is not a reviewable decision. The reasoning was that the legislation, as drafted, did not provide for such a review. This conclusion was supported by an unpublished decision of another Deputy President and by contrasting the current legislation with other statutory schemes, such as section 14ZX of the Taxation Administration Act 1953, which explicitly allows for review of decisions to refuse extensions of time.

Accordingly, the Tribunal concluded it did not have jurisdiction to consider Scully's application for review of the Secretary's decision dated 6 February 2016.