appeal under s 172 of the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth)
where Tribunal affirmed decision of the National Disability Insurance Agency to issue recovery notice to insurer under s 111(2) of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth)
where applicant obtained settlement of District Court personal injuries action
Quick Take
1Under s 107(1) of the NDIS Act, the phrase 'caused, to any extent' qualifies the causal connection required between the personal injury and the participant's impairment, but the separate requirement that compensation be fixed 'in respect of' that personal injury demands that the compensation amount actually be paid for a personal injury of the required kind — not merely connected 'to any extent' with such an injury.
2Where a settlement sum compensates multiple personal injuries and only some are of the kind that caused the participant's qualifying impairment, the Agency may only recover the portion of compensation attributable to the required kind of personal injury; it cannot appropriate the entire settlement amount merely because part of it relates to the relevant injury.
3The Administrative Review Tribunal must identify the specific personal injury for which compensation is paid under a settlement and determine whether the amount the subject of a recovery notice is 'in respect of' a personal injury that has caused, to any extent, the impairment for which NDIS amounts were paid — a rolled-up finding of 'causal link' without this identification constitutes legal error.
