MAA Guidelines (both Medical Assessment Guidelines and Permanent Impairment Guidelines) are not delegated legislation and do not of themselves impose statutory obligations on medical assessors; a breach of the Guidelines does not automatically constitute judicially reviewable error. Evidence assessed by a medical assessor as 'unreliable' does not become 'irrelevant information' that must be excluded from consideration; the assessor retains power to give unreliable material limited weight. The statutory requirement to separate psychiatric and physical impairment assessments under s 61(10) MAC Act means that evidence of pre-existing psychiatric conditions is not a relevant consideration in the assessment of physical impairment from brain injury.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 36 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 36 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.