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

This matter concerned an application by Mr Daniel Shore for review of a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services regarding the "start date" for his Newstart Allowance (NSA) payments. Mr Shore sought back payment of NSA for the period between 26 April 2016 and 27 March 2017, during which he had not received payments. The Tribunal considered Mr Shore's submissions regarding the Secretary's compliance with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) but was satisfied that it had all relevant documents to determine the issues.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether Mr Shore was entitled to NSA payments for the specified period and the correct "start date" for any such entitlement. This required the Tribunal to consider the validity of previous cancellation decisions and whether a subsequent claim constituted a "deemed claim" for the purposes of determining the start date. The Tribunal also had to determine if it had jurisdiction to review the earlier cancellation decisions, which had been the subject of prior unsuccessful review applications.

The Tribunal reasoned that the first cancellation decision, made on 5 February 2016, was affirmed by an authorised review officer on 31 March 2016. Mr Shore applied for a review of this decision, but that application was dismissed due to his non-attendance. No application was made for reinstatement of that earlier review. Subsequently, a second cancellation decision was made on 30 May 2016. While Mr Shore made contact with Centrelink and the Department expressing dissatisfaction and seeking reinstatement, these actions were not considered a valid application for review of the second cancellation decision. The Tribunal found that it lacked jurisdiction to review the earlier cancellation decisions, as they had either been dismissed or affirmed and not validly appealed. Therefore, the Tribunal affirmed the decision under review concerning the start date of Mr Shore's new claim for NSA.