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

This matter concerned an application by Mr. Yang for a review of a decision by the Secretary of the Department of Social Services regarding the commencement date of his Disability Support Pension (DSP). Mr. Yang sought to have his DSP backdated to 2012, the time of his initial claim, rather than the deemed commencement date of 21 April 2016. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine the legal effect of section 152(4) of the *Social Security (Administration) Act 1999* (as it stood at the relevant time) on Mr. Yang's ability to receive a favourable outcome regarding the start date of his DSP.

The central legal issue was whether Mr. Yang could obtain a benefit from a review of the earlier decision to reject his DSP claim, given that he had not lodged an application for review within the prescribed 13-week period following the Authorised Review Officer's (ARO) decision on 12 February 2013. The Tribunal had to consider the statutory provision that stipulated any favourable variation or substitution of a decision by the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) could only take effect from the date the application for review was made, if that application was lodged more than 13 weeks after the initial decision notice.

The Tribunal reasoned that Mr. Yang's application for review of the ARO's 2013 decision was lodged significantly outside the 13-week timeframe. Under section 152(4) of the *Administration Act*, even if the SSAT had varied or set aside the earlier decision in Mr. Yang's favour, the effect of that revised decision could only be from the date of his review application. As Mr. Yang was granted DSP in February 2017, backdated to April 2016, any favourable decision on the earlier claim, taking effect from the date of his review application (which was after he commenced receiving DSP), would provide no practical benefit. Therefore, the Tribunal concluded that the review was futile and had no reasonable prospects of success.

The Tribunal dismissed Mr. Yang's application under section 42B(1)(b) of the *AAT Act*, finding that it had no reasonable prospects of success due to the operation of section 152(4) of the *Administration Act*.