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Australian Appeals Tribunal and Recovery of Social Security Overpayments in 1985

Section 140 of the Social Security Act of 1947 (the Act) provided for the recovery of overpayments until October 1985. Section 140 (1) permitted recovery of an overpayment in a court when the overpayment was a consequence of

“a false statement or representation or in a consequence of a failure or omission to comply with any provision of the Act”

It provided that the amount paid by way of pension, allowance or benefit would not have been paid;

“but for the false statement or representation, failure or omission”.

Section 140(2) was broader and allowed for recovery

“where for any reason an amount had been paid by way of benefit, pension… which should not have…”

however, recovery under this section was only by was of deductions in continuing benefits. Therefore, this provision was unavailable when the person was no longer receiving benefits.

If a client of the Department of Social Security (D.S.S) disagreed with the department’s decision to re...

Posted by: Margaret Rowden

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