Centrelink

Disability Support Pension

If you have a permanent physical, intellectual or mental condition that prevents you from working you may be eligible to apply for the Disability Support Pension. 

You will need to meet the medical and non-medical rules and be assessed by a job capacity assessor and a doctor. 

For more information, see Disability Support Pension on the Services Australia website.

Centrelink debts

If you received a letter from Centrelink about money you owe, don’t ignore it. 

If you owe money to Centrelink, you can ask them to provide you with a Statement of Debt that gives you information about your debt for the last five years.

In some cases, Centrelink may refer the debt to a debt collection agency.

If you don’t agree to owing the debt, you have a right to ask for a review of the decision. Before asking for a review, you should get legal advice.

Appealing a Centrelink decision

If you don’t agree to a Centrelink decision, you can apply for a formal review of the decision. You don’t have to ask for an explanation first.  

When you apply for a formal review an Authorised Review Officer (ARO) will review the decision. The ARO will:

• speak with you about the decision
• look at the facts, the law and the policy involved
• change the direction if wrong, and
• contact you to let you know the outcome of the formal review. 

Reviews to a Centrelink Authorised Review Officer (ARO) about a payment, suspension or cancellation should be made within 13 weeks.

There is no time limit to appeal debts. You can also request a pause on debt repayments during a formal review of a debt decision.

You can apply for a formal review of most Family Tax Benefit (FTB) decisions. This should be done within 52 weeks from the date you were made aware of the decision. This time frame does not apply to FTB by instalment decisions.

The Administrative Review Tribunal

You can apply for a first review of a social security decision to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) within 13 weeks of being given the notice of the ARO decision.

Some reviews to the ART have time limits. You can apply for a first review of

• a paid parental leave decision to the ART within 28 days after the ARO decision
• family assistance decisions, except for family assistance payments by instalment and debt decisions, within 90 days after the ARO decision
• ABSTUDY debt decision within three months after the ARO.

You can apply for second review of a social security decision in the ART within 28 days of receiving the first review decision. 

Some social security matters can be referred by the President of the ART to the Guidance and Appeals Panel (GAP).  The President can refer matters where there is an issue of significance to administrative decision-making. 

You can appeal the decision of the ART to the Federal Court within 28 days.

Before appealing a Centrelink decision with the ART, you should get legal advice.

For more information, see Centrelink payments on the ART website.

To find out what happens after you apply, see After applying on the ART website.