How to Appeal a Centrelink or NDIS Decision to the Administrative Review Tribunal

To appeal a Centrelink or NDIS decision, you first ask for an internal review: a formal review by a Centrelink Authorised Review Officer, or an internal review by the NDIA. If you still disagree with the review decision, you can apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal, which replaced the AAT in October 2024. For NDIS decisions you have 28 days. For most Centrelink decisions there is no strict deadline, but applying late can cost you back pay.

Claim Done drafts your Administrative Review Tribunal application from your answers for a flat A$97: the application itself, a chronology and statement of issues, and an index of your documents. You check them and lodge them yourself.

Step one: the internal review

The Tribunal can usually look at a decision only after the agency has reviewed it itself.

Centrelink: a formal review by an Authorised Review Officer

Services Australia says a formal review is done by an Authorised Review Officer (ARO), an independent officer authorised to review decisions. You do not have to ask for an explanation first, and you do not have to pay for a formal review. You can apply by calling your regular payment line, visiting a service centre, or sending in the form.

Timing matters. Services Australia says you should apply for a formal review of most claim and entitlement decisions within 13 weeks of being told about the decision. You can still apply later, but if the decision is changed you may only get your entitlement from the date you applied. A debt decision can be reviewed at any time for almost all payments.

NDIS: an internal review by the NDIA

The NDIS says to ask for a review within 3 months from the day you received the decision. Reviewable decisions include being found not eligible, the supports approved in your plan, and a refusal to reassess or vary your plan. Some decisions are not reviewable: the NDIS gives budget reductions as an example. You can ask by phone on 1800 800 110, through the service hub, by letter, in person, or with the request form.

The Administrative Review Tribunal replaced the AAT

The Administrative Review Tribunal was set up by the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 and started on 14 October 2024, replacing the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. It takes a fresh look at the facts, law and policy and can consider new information. If you lodged with the AAT on or before 13 October 2024, the Tribunal says your case was transferred automatically.

The Tribunal cannot investigate a complaint about Centrelink or the NDIA, and it cannot change the law.

Time limits and fees, as at November 2026

These periods come from the Tribunal’s Centrelink page and NDIS page. Always check your own decision letter too.

Missed a deadline? You can ask the Tribunal for more time, in writing, with the reasons the application is late. The Tribunal only starts the review if it agrees to extend the time. For NDIS cases, it sends your request to the NDIA, which has 14 days to say whether it objects.

For the NDIS there is one more path. If you asked for an internal review and the NDIA has not finished it within 90 days (or other specified period), the Tribunal may be able to review the decision without waiting. Send a copy of your internal review request with your application.

What the application must contain

The Tribunal asks for:

• your name, postal address, phone number and email address
• the date you received the review decision
• a copy of the decision
• brief reasons why you think the decision is wrong
• for the NDIS, a copy of your internal review request, and any new information you got after the NDIA’s decision
• your representative’s contact details, if you have one.

If you cannot send a copy of the decision, give the name of the department, a short description of the decision and the date it was made. A parent or guardian can apply for a child in an NDIS matter, giving their own details and their relationship to the child. For Centrelink, the Tribunal accepts an application for someone else only from their lawyer, a person holding a power of attorney that authorises legal proceedings, their appointed guardian, or the executor or administrator of their estate.

How the Claim Done documents are set out

The application is set out under these headings:

1. Applicant: name, contact details, and who applies on their behalf if anyone.
2. The decision: Services Australia or the NDIA, the review decision, its date and the date you received it.
3. The decision and the reason given: what was decided at each stage, and why.
4. Reasons why the decision should be reviewed: one numbered reason per paragraph, pointing to its supporting document.
5. Decision sought: the decision you want instead.
6. Extension of time: only where you are late, with your reasons.

The chronology lists events in date order and the questions the Tribunal has to decide. The index lists your documents, the decision under review first.

How to lodge and what to keep

The Tribunal says the easiest and safest way is online at art.gov.au. You can also call 1800 228 333 (not for Paid Parental Leave, where the application must be in writing), email reviews@art.gov.au, post a letter, or visit a Tribunal office. Keep a copy of everything you lodge, the confirmation letter, and the date you received the review decision.

What happens after you lodge

The Tribunal sends a confirmation letter and tells Centrelink or the NDIA. The decision-maker sends its documents, called T documents, within 28 days, and you get a copy. The decision usually keeps operating during the review. For a Centrelink debt, Services Australia says you can ask it to pause repayments until the Tribunal’s review is complete.

The case events may include a directions hearing, a conference and a hearing. A conference is an informal, private discussion, usually with a registrar, and goes for about an hour. If the review is not resolved earlier, there is usually a hearing, normally before one Tribunal member. In Centrelink cases, no one from Centrelink attends the hearing. If you do not attend a case event, the application may be dismissed. You can ask for it to be reinstated within 28 days after you are told it was dismissed.

The Tribunal can affirm the decision, vary it, set it aside and substitute a new decision, or send it back to the agency to reconsider. You can withdraw at any time before a decision is made.

Free help

You can represent yourself. The Tribunal can explain the process but cannot advise you on your case. It arranges a qualified interpreter free of charge, and for a first Centrelink review it can connect you with a First Nations liaison officer.

• Centrelink: Services Australia names Economic Justice Australia and National Legal Aid for free advice and assistance.
• NDIS: the Tribunal can help you organise a free appointment with a Legal Aid lawyer in your state. You can also appoint a disability advocate registered with the Department of Social Services, which you can find through Ask Izzy.

Mistakes to avoid

• Applying to the Tribunal before the internal review is finished.
• Counting from the wrong date. Most periods run from when you received the review decision, but student assistance runs from the date of the decision.
• Leaving out the decision letter or, for the NDIS, your internal review request.
• Writing a complaint instead of reasons. The Tribunal reviews the decision; it does not investigate complaints.
• Missing a case event without telling the Tribunal.

The Tribunal decides each case on its own facts, and no document can promise a result. When you are ready, start your Administrative Review Tribunal application for a flat A$97.