Piotto v Chief Executive Officer, Services Australia [2020] FCA 976

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Piotto v Chief Executive Officer, Services Australia [2020] FCA 976 File numbers: VID 415 of 2019 VID 763 of 2019

Judge: ANDERSON J

Date of judgment: 3 July 2020

Date of publication of reasons: 10 July 2020

Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – application for review under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) (ADJR Act) – payments of Newstart Allowance temporary suspended ostensibly due to "mutual obligation failure" of applicant – applicant attempted to tape record conversations at appointment – payments reinstated within a week thereafter – discretion whether to award remedies under s 16 of the ADJR Act – whether refusal to permit tape recording is a "decision" or "conduct" amenable to review under ADJR Act – implied statutory power to regulate conduct of appointment – delegation of Secretary's statutory functions to private organisations performing services for the Commonwealth of Australia SOCIAL SECURITY – requirement to attend appointments under s 63(2) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth) – compliance action for mutual obligation failures – implied statutory power to regulate conduct of appointment Held: application dismissed – application for relief in respect of suspension of payments refused on discretionary grounds – question of legality of suspension of payments is moot – applicant failed to pursue merits review avenues – insufficient evidence as to what occurred at key appointment – statutory functions validly delegated by Secretary to private service provider