Secretary, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs v Harris [2010] FCA 360

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Secretary, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs v Harris [2010] FCA 360 Citation: Secretary, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs v Harris [2010] FCA 360

Appeal from: Harris and Secretary, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs [2008] AATA 988

Parties: SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF FAMILIES, HOUSING, COMMUNITY SERVICES AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS v DANNY HARRIS

File number(s): QUD 409 of 2008

Judge: GREENWOOD J

Date of judgment: 15 April 2010

Catchwords: SOCIAL SECURITY – consideration of an application by the Secretary of the Department to set aside a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on the footing that the Tribunal had applied an incorrect test for the determination of a person's "continuing inability to work" under s 94(1)(c) of the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) as provided for by s 94(2) – consideration of when an impairment is "of itself" sufficient to prevent a person from "doing any work" independently of a program of support – consideration of the extent to which the test takes account of the employability of the impaired person and whether the relevant market is an open labour market for impaired persons – consideration of the authorities relating to that question in the historical context of the development of the Social Security legislation of the Commonwealth ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – consideration of questions of law going to whether the Tribunal failed to identify the correct statutory question to be applied in determining a continuing inability to work for the purposes of the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) – consideration of whether findings on the part of the Tribunal were open on the evidence