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

This matter concerned an application by the Applicant for reinstatement of her application for an extension of time to review a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) concerning her Newstart Allowance debt. The original application for an extension of time had been dismissed for non-appearance at a hearing on 11 February 2020. The Applicant subsequently applied for reinstatement, arguing the dismissal was in error. This application for reinstatement was itself listed for a hearing on 19 March 2020, at which the Applicant again failed to appear. The Tribunal, presided over by R West M, refused to reinstate the application.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was appropriate, in the exercise of its broad discretion under section 42A(9) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (AAT Act), to reinstate the Applicant's dismissed application. This required the Tribunal to consider the Applicant's reasons for seeking reinstatement, the merits of her original application, and her conduct in failing to appear at both the original hearing and the reinstatement hearing.

The Tribunal reasoned that while it possessed a broad discretion to reinstate applications dismissed under section 42A(2) of the AAT Act, it was not appropriate to do so in this instance. Despite receiving proper notice of the reinstatement hearing via email and SMS, and attempts by the Tribunal associate to contact her by telephone, the Applicant failed to attend or respond. Furthermore, the Tribunal found that the Applicant's stated reasons for seeking reinstatement, including the assertion of consent to proceed on written submissions, were not supported by the evidence regarding the 11 February 2020 hearing. Critically, the Tribunal also reviewed the substantive application for an extension of time and found that it did not disclose a proper reason for the original late filing, nor did the grounds for review indicate substantial merit in the underlying application.

Consequently, the Tribunal refused to reinstate the application for an extension of time.