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A Queensland lawyer says the Aged Care Act needs to be changed to remove an “illogical” phrase which prevents providers from appealing certain decisions made by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency.
Late last year the Federal Court found that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) cannot scrutinise decisions about the length of accreditation when the agency has conducted an internal review and upheld its original decision.
However the AAT can hear an appeal about the length of accreditation when the agency has varied the original decision.
Tim Longwill, a partner with McCullough Robertson, said the court’s decision was consistent with the letter of the law but he argued that the legislation has some anomalies.
“The decision acknowledged that the act is probably illogical but it couldn’t go beyond the plain words of the legislation because of the way it was expressed,” he said.
“This means that if the agency decided to change the period of accreditation from one year to 364 days, the provider would have a right to appeal – but if it maintained its decision, it would not. That makes no sense.”
Mr Longwill said that when the agency decides not to change a decision, it effectively blocks any avenue for independent review.
“There is no independent body that can say the agency got that decision wrong,” he said.
“We argued that the wording in the act did not convey the true intention of the legislation but the court did not accept that. Therefore I think the legislation needs to be changed.”
Mr Longwill said there may be other methods for appealing these decisions but they were more costly and time consuming.
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