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

This matter concerned an appeal by Mrs Webeck against a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to cancel her disability support pension and to raise debts for overpayments. The core of the dispute revolved around whether periodic compensation payments Mrs Webeck received for a workplace injury should be disregarded when calculating her entitlement to a disability support pension, and if so, whether any debts arising from overpayments should be waived. The case was heard by Dr L Bygrave, a Member of the Tribunal.

The Tribunal was required to determine four key issues: first, whether Mrs Webeck's disability support pension had been correctly cancelled; second, whether her periodic compensation payments could be disregarded; third, whether debts for overpayment of the pension, totalling $3,826.35 and $11,296.43 for specific periods, had been correctly raised; and fourth, if debts were established, whether there were grounds to waive all or part of them. The Tribunal considered Part 3.14 of the *Social Security Act 1991* (Cth), which governs the interaction between compensation payments and social security payments, and the definition of "compensation" within the Act.

The Tribunal found that the periodic payments Mrs Webeck received from Allianz Australia, stemming from a workplace injury under NSW legislation, constituted compensation as defined by the Act. It was determined that section 1173 of the Act mandated a dollar-for-dollar deduction of these periodic compensation payments against her disability support pension rate, as she was not receiving the pension at the time of the compensable event. Consequently, the Tribunal varied the reviewable decision, finding that Mrs Webeck had been overpaid disability support pension in the amounts of $2,194.48 for the period 5 October 2013 to 23 June 2014, and $11,311.69 for the period 24 June 2014 to 11 April 2016. The Tribunal was not satisfied that special circumstances existed to waive these debts, and therefore, any outstanding debt amounts were to be repaid to the Commonwealth. The decision to cancel Mrs Webeck's disability support pension from 16 February 2014 otherwise remained unchanged.