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

This matter concerned a second review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) of decisions made by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services regarding the applicant, Ms. Sobhee. The dispute centred on debts incurred by Ms. Sobhee due to overpayments of Jobseeker Payment (JSP) and a coronavirus supplement, which she received while not being in Australia. The AAT was required to determine whether these benefits were payable, whether a debt had been incurred, and if so, the extent to which it should be waived due to administrative error or special circumstances.

The legal issues before the Tribunal included whether Ms. Sobhee was entitled to receive JSP and the coronavirus supplement while overseas, and whether the amounts paid constituted a debt to the Commonwealth. The Tribunal also had to consider whether any part of the debt was solely due to administrative error by the Department, and whether special circumstances, such as being stranded overseas by pandemic restrictions, applied to Ms. Sobhee's situation, warranting a waiver of the debt. Additionally, for a later period, the Tribunal needed to assess if an overpayment of JSP was due to Ms. Sobhee's reporting of income, and if so, how that should be recalculated based on new information.

The Tribunal reasoned that while Ms. Sobhee was not legally entitled to the payments while outside Australia, her circumstances, including being stranded overseas due to pandemic restrictions, constituted special circumstances for waiving part of the debt. The Tribunal found that some of the overpayment was also attributable to administrative error by the Department. For the earlier period of overpayment (17 April 2020 to 26 November 2020), fifty per cent of the JSP debt and fifty per cent of the coronavirus supplement debt were waived, with an additional $500 of the supplement debt waived due to sole administrative error. For the later period (22 May 2021 to 4 June 2021), the JSP debt was remitted to the Department for recalculation based on updated employer information, with the recalculated amount to be raised as a debt against the applicant.