Simmons and National Disability Insurance Agency

This matter concerned an application by Mr Simmons, acting on behalf of the Applicant, to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for review of decisions made by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). The core dispute revolved around whether certain decisions concerning the Applicant's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan constituted "reviewable decisions" under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth).

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the NDIA delegate's decision on 19 July 2021 to approve a statement of participant supports in the Applicant's plan (Plan A) was a reviewable decision. Additionally, the Tribunal had to consider whether subsequent decisions to approve Plan B on 25 March 2022, Plan C on 21 July 2022, and an email sent on 23 August 2022 were reviewable decisions. The Tribunal also considered the application of sections 160 and 163 of the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) regarding the presumed receipt and sending of postal articles.

The Tribunal reasoned that while the NDIA's delegate decision on 19 July 2021 was communicated to Mr Simmons, his subsequent contacts in September 2021, October 2021, and January 2022 were not requests for an internal review of that decision under section 100 of the NDIS Act. Instead, these were interpreted as mere enquiries about a plan review that had not been formally requested. The Tribunal applied a beneficial approach to the interpretation of communications, as suggested in *Rogers*, but found that the nature of Mr Simmons' communications did not amount to a request for internal review. The Tribunal noted that a subsequent request on 19 January 2022 for an unscheduled review due to changed circumstances was a request under section 48 of the NDIS Act, leading to a new plan, and was not an internal review request.

The Tribunal concluded that the decision of 19 July 2021 (Plan A) was not a reviewable decision. However, the Tribunal was satisfied that the decisions to approve Plan B on 25 March 2022, Plan C on 21 July 2022, and the email of 23 August 2022 were reviewable decisions within the meaning of sections 99, 100, and 103 of the NDIS Act.