Williams and Secretary, Department of Education and Training

The Applicant, a student, sought debt remission for five university subjects from the Secretary, Department of Education and Training. The Applicant had withdrawn from these subjects after the census date and applied for fee remission on the grounds of special circumstances, specifically his mental health condition, which he contended made it impossible for him to apply within the prescribed 12-month period. The Tribunal was required to determine whether the Applicant's circumstances were such that it was not possible for him to make his application for fee remission within the statutory time limit.

The Tribunal considered the meaning of "possible" in the context of the legislative provisions governing fee remission. It noted that the statutory framework requires a higher education provider to be satisfied that special circumstances apply and that the applicant either applied within the 12-month period or that it was not possible to do so. The Applicant did not meet the first limb of this requirement, making the second limb, concerning the impossibility of applying, the central issue. The Tribunal referred to previous decisions, including *Olsen* and *Brown*, which established that "possible" means capable of being done and that a very serious constraint on a person's ability to act is required for something to be considered impossible. The Tribunal emphasised that the assessment of possibility must be adjusted for individual circumstances, including physical or mental conditions, and that a person's presentation may not reflect the reality of their condition.

Applying these principles, the Tribunal found that the Applicant's mental health condition and the medications he was taking constituted special circumstances that made it impossible for him to lodge his application within the required timeframe. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the decision under review should be set aside.