Ms Joan Gordon:

I am happy to clarify and set out my understanding of this matter. The Senator will appreciate that I cannot speak about individual cases for reasons of confidentiality and data protection. What I can say, however, is that our office does not use test cases. In the particular case referred to, I was not even aware that this case existed and had to go to find it. From the research I did for this meeting, it is my understanding that the precedential case referred to dates back to 1995 and an appeals officer’s decision sometime in June of that year. We do not use this or any other case for decisions.