Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My question is for the Attorney-General. In 2022, the minister announced the abolition of the AAT, stating that it had been fatally compromised by the stacking of Liberal cronies. But the new tribunal being proposed by the minister, while requiring merit based selection of new members, will not require any independence in that selection process. Merit and independence are not the same thing. The minister will still have the power to hand-pick mates for these plum jobs. Why is the Attorney-General going to the great effort of creating a new tribunal if it is to suffer the same fatal flaw that saw its predecessor abolished?

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