Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

These reforms—to abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and replace it with a new and improved Administrative Review Tribunal—are quite significant. Australians deserve a new federal administrative review body that is user focused, efficient, accessible, independent and fair.

I mentioned, before, the previous government's stacking of the AAT. But that wasn't it. There were other inefficiencies that were part of the government's administration of the AAT.

The new government inherited an AAT without a sustainable financial footing. The AAT had been struggling with delays and an extraordinarily large and growing backlog of applications, and it was operating multiple and aging electronic case-management systems. It was yet another bleak legacy of the former government. The coalition's mismanagement of the amalgamation of the AAT with the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, the Migration Review Tribunal and the Refugee Review Tribunal was another feature of that government's mismanagement. It appointed as many as 85 former Liberal MPs, failed Liberal candidates, former Liberal staffers, and other close Liberal associates, without any merit based selection process whatsoever. The AAT never stood a chance of maintaining independence and an efficient decision-making process.

An ineffective administrative review system comes at a very real cost to the tens of thousands of people who rely on the AAT each year. They need to have trust in the process of the independent review of government decisions that have major and sometimes life-altering impacts on their lives. These Australians were abandoned by the previous government.

The Attorney-General announced that the design of the new body would be subject to consultation in 2023, and it was. There was significant consultation that took place.

So this bill, the Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023, establishes a new and much-improved tribunal, with the objective of providing independent administrative review that is fair and just; that resolves applications in a timely manner and with as little formality—and expense, of course—as possible; that is accessible and responsive to the diverse needs of the parties; that improves the transparency and quality of government decision-making; and that promotes trust from the public and confidence in the ART. That is the most significant reform that is under debate here: that this government, the Albanese government, is restoring trust and confidence in the operations of the Administrative Review Tribunal. The Australian people can have that trust because this government is keen to ensure that they have a body that caters for their interests.

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