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Before you finalise a decision you should make sure you have all the relevant information you need. § Ask the applicant to give you any additional information if you think it may help you to make a better informed decision. § Remember, under the rules of procedural fairness the applicant has the right to be heard before you decide to refuse their application. In some cases this will prompt them to provide you with more information. § If you decide to refuse the application, best practice recommends that you provide a statement of reasons, even if one is not requested. |
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Seek advice before you finalise your decision if you are uncertain about the facts, or the rule or the principles that you should be applying. § If you do not get advice before you make up your mind, you might miss something important for your decision. § Failing to consider a relevant fact could cause an applicant to seek a review. Your decision could be criticised if it was uncertain or incomplete in some way.
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ADFThe Directorate of Entitlements provides support to decision-makers and administrators on ADF pay and conditions matters. It is able to provide advice on referral by local support personnel and can be contacted by sending an email to pacman@defence.gov.au. |
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APSDefence Workplace Relations (DWR) provides support to decision-makers and administrative staff on APS conditions of service. DWR publishes the DWRM and the Defence Supervisor's Handbook. DWR can provide specialist advice to your local human resource managers on APS remuneration and conditions matters. Other sources of advice are the Defence Service Centre on 1800 333 362, your Group or Service Human Resources Director or email dwr.feedback@defence.gov.au. |
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A decision is final once it has been given to the applicant or issued in a way that makes clear that a decision has been made. Once the decision has been made, the applicant is able to rely on it, for example, in the case of an application for leave, your decision to approve the leave allows the applicant to pay for a holiday in advance. Generally, the decision would not be able to be replaced by another decision-maker outside the review process, (see Section 9 for exceptions). |
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Example: A Major receives a letter telling him that his application for an allowance has been refused. This shows that a decision has been made. Non-example 1: An APS employee speaks to their supervisor about taking leave during a busy time of the year before submitting a leave application. The supervisor says 'Subject to all outstanding work being completed that should not be a problem'. This is not a decision. The supervisor and employee would need to discuss the application before making a final decision to ensure that the specific workplace requirements were not in jeopardy. Non-example 2: The CO is asked by an administrator whether he has approved an application to recognise a de facto relationship. The CO says 'I’ve made my decision to reject it. Can you check whether there is any extra material to change my mind before I send out the final decision?' The CO has indicated his mind is made up before asking for extra information. This example shows a failure to give a hearing or apply procedural fairness before the decision to refuse is made. The correct action would be for the CO to say 'I am considering it. Before I make my final decision can you check with the applicant whether there is any further information that I should consider'. |