Webber and Secretary, Department of Family, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

[2006] AATA 1152

Administrative

Appeals

Tribunal

 

WRITTEN REASONS FOR ORAL DECISION [2006] AATA 1152

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)        N2006/630

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE  DIVISION		)
Re		EDWARD WEBBER

Applicant

And SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY, COMMUNITY SERVICES & INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS.

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Senior Member, Mrs Josephine Kelly

Date of oral decision      16 November 2006

Date of written reasons 11 December 2006

PlaceSydney

Decision The decision under review is affirmed.  

[sgd] Senior Member Mrs Josephine Kelly

WRITTEN REASONS

1. At the conclusion of the hearing of this matter, the terms of the decision made and the reasons for that decision were stated orally. The Applicant requested the Tribunal to furnish a statement in writing of the reasons for its decision pursuant to sub-section 43(2A) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975.

2.      The oral reasons for decision have been transcribed by Auscript, the Commonwealth Reporting Service, and edited only to the extent necessary to ensure clarity of expression, without in any way changing the reasons.  The edited transcript comprises the reasons for the Tribunal’s decision and is annexed, and furnished to the Applicant and to the Respondent. 

REASONS FOR DECISION

CATCHWORDS

SOCIAL SECURITY – Debt raised – Applicant received USA age pension and Australian age pension – Issue whether debt properly raised – Issue whether debt arose solely due to administrative error – Issue whether special circumstances exist – Held debt was properly raised – Debt did not arise solely from administrative error – Decision under review affirmed.

LEGISLATION

Section 1237A & 1237AAD Social Security Act 1991
Article 17 of Schedule 3, Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999,

1.      Mr Webber seeks a review of a decision made by the Secretary, Department of Family, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (“the Secretary”) to raise a debt of $AU1,206.95 for the period of 1 January 2004 to 31 May 2005.  How the debt arose is not in dispute.

2.     Following a request from the Secretary, Mr Webber applied for and was granted a USA pension from 1 January 2004.  An arrears payment of $US8,157.00 for the period from 1 January 2004 to 28 February 2005 was unsuccessfully sought to be made by the US authorities some time shortly after the end of February 2005.   Mr Webber stated that he had never received that because there was a problem with his BSB number (page 50 of T16).

3.      The matter was rectified and on 2 June 2005 an amount of $US10,720.00 was released in age pension payments for the period from January 2004 to May 2005 (page 59 of T22).

4.      Having received age pension payments from both the USA and Australian governments, the rate of Mr Webber’s Australian age pension was adjusted for the arrears period, that is from January 2004 until 31 May 2005 (T25).  On 1 July 2005 the debt of $AU1,206.95 was raised for that arrears period.

5. Mr Webber’s case is that the debt must be waived pursuant to section 1237A of the Social Security Act 1991 because the debt is solely attributable to an administrative error made by the Commonwealth. The error, he says, is that Centrelink notified the US government of an incorrect BSB number for his account which caused the original payment of $US8,157.00 not to be received into his account. He then received the higher payment of $US10,721.00 on 2 June 2005.

6.      Mr Webber accepts that financially he is better off now that he receives his US pension as well as his Australian pension and agreed during his oral evidence that for the period of 1 January 2004 to 31 May 2005, taking into account the raised debt, he is approximately $AU9,000.00 better of than he would have been if he had not received the US pension.

7.      I note that in his oral and written evidence Mr Webber expressed dissatisfaction with various matters arising from his dealings with Centrelink and the US authorities, however, it is unnecessary to my task to deal with them other than his argument that Centrelink made an administrative error.

8.      On the evidence, I find that Mr Webber has assumed that the cause of the first payment by US authorities not being successful was that Centrelink provided the wrong BSB number.  In his oral evidence he conceded that it was indeed an assumption.  I find there is no evidence before me that that was the cause of the problem and I make no finding as to why the first payment was unsuccessful.  I am simply not in any position to do so.  I am not satisfied that it arose from Centrelink’s providing the wrong BSB number to the US authorities.  In coming to that conclusion I also find that Mr Webber sent correspondence to US authorities in Manila and Baltimore about his pension but none of it was in evidence before me.  Mr Webber also said in evidence that he did not provide his BSB details until after the first unsuccessful payment, however that is contradicted in his written document where he says that he in fact provided his BSB and bank account details to Baltimore after he was advised that he was entitled to a pension, the rate of it and the arrears due to him but that “the catch was” they needed further details including his current address and bank details which, as I have said, he then provided.

9.      I also find that on 27 May 2005 Centrelink provided direct deposit details to the US authorities as provided by Mr Webber’s local parliamentarian on 26 May 2005 (page 109 of T43).  I infer that as the payment was made on 2 June 2005, it was that correspondence that gave rise to the payment.  

10.     I also infer that Mr Webber’s assumption about the administrative error arose from that document T43, which is a decision statement of an Authorised Review Officer because it included two BSB numbers for the St George Bank.  The Social Security Appeals Tribunal (“SSAT”) decision states that it inquired from St George and found that one of those numbers, BSB 112 879, was the old number for St George and 192 901 was the new BSB number.  It is also apparent from that letter that the old BSB number had been provided to Centrelink by Mr Webber’s local parliamentarian on 26 May 2005 and it was that information that was provided to the US authorities.  Centrelink’s records as of May 2005 show that the BSB number used to pay Mr Webber his Australian pension was the new number, 192 901.

11. Even if I were satisfied that Centrelink had made an administrative error, I find that the debt was raised within six weeks of the date of the first payment giving rise to it that is on 2 June 2005. Accordingly, section 1237A(1A)(a) applies and the beneficial provision section 1237A would not have assisted in any event.

12. The only matter that Mr Webber pointed to as constituting a special circumstance was the administrative error which I have already dealt with. I am not satisfied that that is a special circumstance within the meaning of section 1237AAD. In any event, I do not find that there is an administrative error in any event.

13.     As Mr Webber was unrepresented I considered the question of whether the debt had been properly raised.  In my view it has and that is based on the Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999, article 17 of schedule 3, which provides for the raising of a debt in the circumstances where Mr Webber was receiving an Australian pension during the arrears period and which would have been reduced had he been receiving the US pension at the same time.

14.     For those reasons the SSAT decision made on 12 January 2006 affirming the decision made on 1 July 2005 is affirmed.

I certify that the 14 preceding paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for the decision herein of Senior Member,
Mrs Josephine Kelly

Signed: Ms Preethi Nimmagadda

Associate

Date of Hearing:  15 November 2006 

Date of Oral Decision:  16 November 2006

Date of Written Reasons:  11 December 2006

Representative for Applicant:   Self-represented

Representative for the Respondent:       Centrelink Legal Services Branch