Reference no: EM133173448

SAP103 Introduction to Welfare Law

Case study A

Vashti is a community services worker. She works as an assessment officer with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). It is Vashti's job to help clients complete their application for a NDIS support package and to process the completed application for approval.

Bob is Vashti's client. He is a 45-year-old man with motor neuron disease. The physical impairments he experiences are getting significantly worse. When he met with Vashti, he was in a wheelchair and unable to hold the pen to sign his name on the application form or open the door to exit Vashti's office.

At the time of his appointment with Vashti, Bob's long-term partner and full-time carer Jack was waiting for him outside the office to take Bob home. Vashti feels uncomfortable talking with Bob about his partner Jack, so she asked Jack to wait outside in the car park until she finished speaking with Bob. Vashti doesn't think it's right for two men to be in a marriage like relationship together.

During the appointment, Bob made a request under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) (‘the Act') to become a participant in the National Disability Scheme (the NDIS) and receive a support package.

It is Vashti's job to decide whether Bob meets the criteria to access the scheme. There is an age criterion, a residency criterion, and a disability criterion. At 45 years of age Bob meets the age criterion. He is an Australian Citizen who resides in Australia. Bob provided Vashti with his birth certificate and a certified copy of his passport as evidence of his Australian citizenship. Bob also provided Vashti with a copy of his medical assessment that was conducted 1 year ago when he was first diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease. At the time he was first diagnosed Bob was still working as a high school teacher and coaching the school soccer team.

The disability requirement in the Act is difficult for Vashti to apply given the old medical assessment that Bob has provided. The legal criteria require a person's disability to result in a permanent impairment that substantially reduces functional capacity. If Vashti relies on the old medical assessment, she will reject Bob's application. She can see from her interview with Bob that he would clearly meet this criterion because he now has very limited functional capacity. Vashti finds that she has a dilemma in making her decision and can't choose these two causes of action.

Question 1. Apply the Ethical Decision Framework and describe the steps that Vashti could take to guide her in making her decision?

Question 2. Identify two principles of administrative law that Vashti should apply in making her decision, and describe what Vashti needs to do in applying each of these two rules.