Further Appeal Rights
Applicants and other parties who are not satisfied with an SSAT
decision regarding their child support review can appeal to a court
but only on a question of law. There are time limits for
instituting appeals. The court which most frequently deals with
such appeals is the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. The Family
Court and certain State and Territory courts may also deal with
such appeals.
If an appeal is lodged with a court by any party (including the
CSA), against a decision of the SSAT in a child support matter, the
SSAT is obliged by law [section 110K Child Support
(Registration and Collection) Act 1988] to send to the Court
all documents which were before the SSAT in relation to the
proceedings and which are relevant to the appeal.
There are two exceptions to this further appeal process:
- if the SSAT refuses to grant an extension of time to apply to the SSAT, the applicant can lodge an application directly with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal;
- if the SSAT makes a 'care' decision, i.e. determines the extent of care provided to a child or children by each parent, for a period after 1 July 2008 a party can lodge an application directly with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
An application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal must be made within 28 days of receiving notice of the SSAT decision.