Stephens-Ryan; Secretary, Department of Social Services and (Social services second review)

This matter concerned an appeal by Ms Stephens-Ryan against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which affirmed a determination by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services that she had incurred a debt to the Commonwealth. The debt arose from the payment of carer payment benefits to which Ms Stephens-Ryan was found to be not entitled, due to the non-disclosure of trust distributions as income in her application. Ms Stephens-Ryan contended that these trust distributions did not constitute "income" under the relevant Act because she neither earned nor received them, and that the debt should be waived.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the trust distributions received by Ms Stephens-Ryan could correctly be characterised as "income" for the purposes of the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth). This determination was crucial to establishing whether she had received a social security payment to which she was not entitled, thereby creating a debt to the Commonwealth under s 1223 of the Act. A secondary issue was whether the debt should be waived under s 1237AAD of the Act, based on Ms Stephens-Ryan's reliance on her accountant's advice and her alleged lack of knowledge regarding the trust distributions.

The court reasoned that the definition of "income" in the Act was broad and included amounts "derived" by a person, not solely those "received". It found that the trust distributions were properly recorded in the Trust's financial statements and in Ms Stephens-Ryan's tax returns, which were prepared by a professional accountant. Furthermore, Ms Stephens-Ryan had acknowledged receiving distributions from a family trust in a subsequent statement. The court concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, the trust distributions were derived by Ms Stephens-Ryan and therefore constituted income under the Act. The court also found no special circumstances or other reasons to waive the debt.

Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the AAT's decision and substituted a decision affirming the original determination that Ms Stephens-Ryan was liable to repay the carer payment debt of $39,197.55 for the period 18 September 2013 to 29 June 2015.