Specific Care Pty Ltd and Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered a dispute between Specific Care Pty Ltd (the Applicant) and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner (the Respondent) concerning the Respondent's jurisdiction to review an application for approval to provide home care. The Applicant sought to have its July 2023 application treated as an enhancement of its original November 2021 application, thereby avoiding the need to pay a new application fee and arguing that the Tribunal's jurisdiction was already enlivened. The Respondent contended that the July 2023 application was a new and substantially different application, and that the Tribunal's jurisdiction was only triggered after the Commissioner had made a decision on such an application.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed the jurisdiction to consider the Applicant's July 2023 application, or if that application constituted a new matter requiring a fresh decision from the Commissioner before it could be brought before the Tribunal for review. The Tribunal was required to determine if the July 2023 application was a mere amendment or enhancement of the 2021 application, or if it represented a distinct and new application that fell outside the scope of the current review.

The Tribunal reasoned that its powers under section 43 of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) were limited to reviewing a decision that had already been made and placed before it. It found that the July 2023 application contained a significant volume of new material, reflecting substantial changes in personnel, structure, policy, and operations, which distinguished it fundamentally from the 2021 application. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it was not a first-tier decision-maker and that the Respondent should have the opportunity to assess the July 2023 application in accordance with established procedures. The Tribunal held that it did not have jurisdiction to consider the July 2023 application as it was presented.

The Tribunal dismissed the application for review, finding that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the July 2023 application.