Labor 2013-14 Budget Savings (Measures No. 2) Act 2015 (169 of 2015)

Schedule 1   Student start-up loans

Part 1   Amendments

Social Security (Administration) Act 1999

43   After Division 2 of Part 4

Insert:

Division 2A - Internal review of certain Commissioner decisions relating to student start-up loans

138A Decisions reviewable under this Division

Each of the following is a reviewable decision for the purposes of this Division:

(a) a decision by the Commissioner under section 1061ZVHE of the 1991 Act (Commissioner may defer making assessments);

(b) a decision by the Commissioner under section 1061ZVHF of the 1991 Act (Commissioner may amend assessments).

138B Commissioner must give reasons for reviewable decisions

(1) The Commissioner's notice to a person of the making of a reviewable decision must include reasons for the decision.

(2) Subsection (1) does not affect an obligation, imposed upon the Commissioner by any other law, to give reasons for a decision.

138C Reviewer of decisions

(1) The Commissioner is the reviewer of a reviewable decision for the purposes of this Division, subject to subsection (2).

(2) If:

(a) the reviewable decision was made by a delegate of the Commissioner; and

(b) the decision is to be reconsidered by a delegate of the Commissioner;

then the delegate who reconsiders the decision must be a person who:

(c) was not involved in making the decision; and

(d) occupies a position that is senior to that occupied by any person involved in making the decision.

138D Reviewer may reconsider reviewable decisions

(1) The reviewer of a reviewable decision may reconsider the decision if the reviewer is satisfied that there is sufficient reason to do so.

(2) The reviewer may reconsider the decision even if:

(a) an application for reconsideration of the decision has been made under section 138F; or

(b) the decision has been confirmed, varied or set aside under section 138F and an application has been made under section 138H for review of the decision.

(3) After reconsidering the decision, the reviewer must:

(a) confirm the decision; or

(b) vary the decision; or

(c) set the decision aside and substitute a new decision.

(4) The reviewer's decision (the decision on review ) to confirm, vary or set aside the decision takes effect:

(a) on the day specified in the decision on review; or

(b) if a day is not specified - on the day on which the decision on review was made.

(5) The reviewer must give written notice of the decision on review to the person to whom that decision relates.

(6) The notice:

(a) must be given within a reasonable period after the decision is made; and

(b) must contain a statement of the reasons for the reviewer's decision on review.

Note: Section 27A of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 requires the person to be notified of the person's review rights.

138E Notice to AAT Registrar

If:

(a) a reviewer makes a decision under subsection 138D(3); and

(b) at the time of the reviewer's decision, a person has applied to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of the decision reviewed by the reviewer;

the reviewer must give the Registrar of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal written notice of the reviewer's decision under subsection 138D(3).

138F Reconsideration of reviewable decisions on request

(1) A person whose interests are affected by a reviewable decision may request the reviewer to reconsider the decision.

(2) The person's request must be made by written notice given to the reviewer within 28 days, or such longer period as the reviewer allows, after the day on which the person first received notice of the decision.

(3) The notice must set out the reasons for making the request.

(4) After receiving the request, the reviewer must reconsider the decision and:

(a) confirm the decision; or

(b) vary the decision; or

(c) set the decision aside and substitute a new decision.

(5) The reviewer's decision (the decision on review ) to confirm, vary or set aside the decision takes effect:

(a) on the day specified in the decision on review; or

(b) if a day is not specified - on the day on which the decision on review was made.

(6) The reviewer must give the person written notice of the decision on review.

(7) The notice:

(a) must be given within a reasonable period after the decision on review is made; and

(b) must contain a statement of the reasons for the decision on review.

Note: Section 27A of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 requires the person to be notified of the person's review rights.

(8) The reviewer is taken, for the purposes of this Division, to have confirmed the decision if the reviewer does not give notice of a decision to the person within 45 days after receiving the person's request.

138G Withdrawal of request

(1) A person who has requested the reviewer to reconsider a reviewable decision may, by written notice given to the reviewer, withdraw the request at any time before the review has been completed.

(2) If a request is withdrawn, the request is taken never to have been made.

138H AAT review of reviewable decisions

Applications may be made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of reviewable decisions that have been confirmed, varied or set aside under section 138D (Reviewer may reconsider reviewable decisions) or 138F (Reconsideration of reviewable decisions on request).

138J Decision changed before AAT review completed

Decision varied

(1) If the reviewer varies a reviewable decision under subsection 138D(3) after an application has been made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of that decision but before the determination of the application, the application is taken to be an application for review of the decision as varied.

Decision set aside and a new decision substituted

(2) If the reviewer sets aside a reviewable decision under subsection 138D(3) and substitutes a new decision, after an application has been made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of the reviewable decision but before the determination of the application, the application is taken to be an application for review of the new decision.