We have just published in rightsnet briefcase a summary of Commissioner Parker's recent decision CSIS/345/04 in which she holds -
'A claimant who, for example, states that her partner has no capital when, entirely unknown to her and it is not a fact which she could with due diligence have discovered, the partner owns property, nevertheless misrepresents under section 71 of the Administration Act; negligence has no relevance ...There is no relevant analogy with an overpayment based on “failure to disclose”; for that concept, the accuracy of the information available to the claimant and on which he or she acted is pertinent to whether disclosure is reasonably to be expected in all the circumstances. To the contrary, however, misrepresentation is founded on an untrue statement made and the reasons why that has arisen do not alter the nature of the falsehood.'
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