1: McMurray and Secretary, Department of Social Services [2015] AATA 159 | March 19, 2015

Court or Tribunal: Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia
Catchwords: Appeal, Child Care Benefit, Family Assistance, Family Tax Benefit, Family Tax Benefit Part A, Family Tax Benefit Part B, SchoolKids bonus, Social Security Fraud
Judges:  C Ermert Member


Background: From 2003 over the course of a decade, the woman was overpaid family tax and childcare benefits, and the Schoolkids bonus because of incorrect Centrelink computer coding. The woman contacted Centrelink in 2011 after her husband received a sizable pay rise, querying whether she was still entitled to the payments. Centrelink ruled she was, but three years later the agency discovered its error and asked her to repay the money, which the woman then disputed. 
 
  [Legal Issue]The woman was alerted by Centrelink to the overpayments on July 2012, but kept on receiving the overpayments. The woman asserted she should not have to repay the overpayed amounts, including the amounts paid prior to July 2012, and the amounts paid after July 2012, because the debts had resulted solely from errors made by Centrelink.   [Court Orders]Tribunal member Conrad Ermert agreed the woman should not have to repay the $77,000 paid to her before July 2012, finding Centrelink raised the issue too late and the woman had received them in good faith. "There is no evidence that [she] held any suspicions or doubts that she was not entitled to the payments. She said in evidence that she simply trusted the Department to make the correct payments," Mr Ermert said. But he found the woman was still required to repay the money received after     


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