Vance and National Disability Insurance Agency

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered the jurisdiction of the Tribunal in the matter of Vance and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). The dispute concerned whether the Tribunal had the authority to review a decision made by the NDIA concerning the applicant's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine whether the application for review was made in relation to a "reviewable decision" as defined by the relevant legislation. This required the Tribunal to identify which specific decision of the NDIA was being challenged and whether that decision fell within the scope of decisions that the Tribunal could review.

The Tribunal reasoned that the application for review related to the applicant's second NDIS plan, dated 5 April 2019. It further found that the relevant decision under consideration was the internal review decision dated 16 April 2019, which the applicant received on 21 June 2019. Based on this identification, the Tribunal concluded that it possessed jurisdiction to hear and determine the application before it.