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

This matter concerned a second-tier review of a decision to refuse the applicant's claim for a Disability Support Pension (DSP). The applicant's claim was limited to her chronic back pain, specifically degenerative lumbar spondylosis and radicular pain. The court was required to determine whether these conditions were fully diagnosed, fully treated, and fully stabilised during the qualification period, and whether they attracted an impairment rating of 20 points or more under the relevant Impairment Tables.

The court considered the evidence, including medical reports and oral testimony, to assess the applicant's back condition. The qualification period for the DSP claim was from 30 May 2018 to 28 August 2018. The respondent accepted that the applicant's lumbar spondylosis was fully diagnosed during this period but contended it was not fully treated and stabilised. Furthermore, the respondent asserted that the radicular pain component was not fully diagnosed within the qualification period.

The court found that the applicant's degenerative lumbar spondylosis had a long diagnostic history, with a diagnosis of right lumbo-sacral pain syndrome in 2007 and evidence of multilevel degenerative lumbar spondylosis on an MRI in 2010. A treating doctor confirmed severe lumbosacral spondylitis in 2018, and a medical professional from Services Australia's Health Professional Advisory Unit concluded in 2021 that the lumbar spondylosis could be accepted as fully diagnosed during the qualification period. However, the court noted that the respondent's assertion that the condition was not fully treated and stabilised, and that the radicular pain was not fully diagnosed, was not sufficiently rebutted by the applicant's evidence. Consequently, the court affirmed the decision to refuse the DSP.