Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In late 2022, the Labor government announced our decision to abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and replace it with a new federal administrative review body. These changes are something that I campaigned on during the election. These changes are something that my community has been calling for now for quite some time. I remember having conversations, prior to the election, when I was doorknocking and when I was speaking to people on the phone. This is not just about people who have direct interactions with the AAT; it also relates to participants of the NDIS. Clinicians, allied health providers—speech pathologists, physiotherapists—you name it, were all calling for significant reform in the area of the AAT. And that is exactly what we're doing. We are the party of reform. We are the government of reform, and that is exactly we're doing here with the Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023.

This bill is also part of the Labor government's agenda to restore faith and trust in our institutions, something that was absolutely obliterated when the Liberal Party ruled at a state and at a federal level, particularly on the New South Wales Central Coast. We can look at our reform agenda particularly in the areas of integrity. We need look no further than the Albanese Labor government's creation and establishment of a national anticorruption commission, something that my community was calling for prior to the 2022 election and something that this government has now delivered on. At the end of the day, the people in this room, the people in this chamber, need to be held accountable for the decisions and the actions that they make.

As I said before, this is significant reform. Reform is what Labor governments do. By appointing as many as 85 former Liberal MPs, failed Liberal candidates, former Liberal staffers and other close Liberal associates without any merit based selection process—including some individuals who have absolutely no relevant experience or expertise in this body—the former government, the former Morrison government, fatally compromised the AAT. They undermined its independence and they undermined and eroded the quality and the efficiency of its decision-making process.

This is not surprising when you look at the Liberal Party's track record of eroding trust and integrity in vital services and infrastructure, particularly on the Central Coast but also right across the country. It was when the Liberal Party were ruling in both the New South Wales state government and in the federal parliament. We had the biggest decline and the biggest destruction of our health services including primary care and general practice, but also our hospital system. The NDIS and the disability sector was absolutely rattled and our aged-care sector infrastructure went into significant decline. This does not only have an effect on those portfolio areas directly; it also has flow-on effects. I'm talking about follow-on effects for our local economies right across the country, particularly on the Central Coast. If you don't have a healthy society, if you aren't assisting people to make sure that they are operating at full functional capacity, then you can't have a boost in productivity growth in your local economy. There are also follow-on effects for the business community. So the Liberal Party in the federal government and the former New South Wales government don't have a leg to stand on with this in mind.

The Albanese Labor government inherited an AAT that was not on a sustainable financial footing. It was beset by delays and an extraordinarily large and growing backlog of applications. That is from operating multiple and ageing electronic case management systems. That's a legacy of the former Liberal's government's mismanagement of the amalgamation of the AAT with the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, the Migration Review Tribunal and the Refugee Review Tribunal.

It really is just a long list of failures by the former Liberal government. We look at things like robodebt, as I said before. We look at the destruction of our primary care and general practice sector. We look at their inability to take integrity and corruption seriously, by not supporting a national anticorruption commission. With regard to this bill, we can see that it comes at a very real cost to tens of thousands of people who rely on the AAT each year to independently review government decisions that have major and sometimes life-altering impacts on their lives, decisions such as whether an older Australian receives an age pension. This is a really important point for veterans, and the Central Coast, in particular the electorates of Robertson, Dobell and even Shortland, has one of the highest numbers of veterans in the country. This body was making decisions as to whether a veteran is compensated for a service injury or whether a participant of the NDIS received funding for essential support. But it doesn't just have impact on the participant in the NDIS; it also has an impact on the family or guardians or support people for that participant, as well as on the clinicians that have major input into these participants' lives. Think of the physiotherapists, the doctors, the speech pathologists, the nurses—all of whom were significantly let down by the mismanagement of administration by the former Liberal government. From Abbott to Turnbull to Morrison, these former governments were not only a disgrace, but they let down the Australian people and very significantly let down the people of the Central Coast.

The Attorney-General announced the design of the new body would be the subject of consultation in early 2023, and it was. We also made it clear that the AAT cases on foot when the AAT is abolished will be transitioned to the new body automatically, so there won't be bureaucratic hurdles and barriers. As I have said previously, the Labor government is committed to restoring trust and is committed to restoring confidence in Australia's system of administrative review, beginning with the establishment of a new administrative review body that is user focused, that puts people at the centre of what we are reviewing and that is efficient and accessible. We need to make sure it's accessible. One of the big things we saw under the former government, and also with former members from the Central Coast, state and federal, was that these review processes were in no way accessible to the general public. That is something I have been extremely committed to changing at a local level, and I'm proud to be part of a government, part of a team on this side, that makes sure these review processes are accessible to the general public. Also we need to make sure they are independent and above all that they are fair.

A central feature of this new body will be a transparent and merit based selection process for the appointment of non-judicial members. This is a stark contrast to the actions of the former government, who 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.

This bill implements the Labor government's commitment to establish this new federal administrative review body. The new body will be called the Administrative Review Tribunal and will replace the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which, as we all know, under the former government significantly failed Australians, particularly on the New South Wales Central Coast. The ART Bill builds on 50 years of experience, learning and broad consultation to establish a tribunal that is user focused, efficient, accessible, independent and fair. The ART bill implements all three recommendations from the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee review into the performance and integrity of Australia's administrative review system, four recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme and the government's response to two recommendations from the Rapid review into the exploitation of Australia's visa system.

The tribunal's objective will be to provide an independent mechanism of review that is just and fair; that resolves applications in a timely manner and with as little formality and expense as is consistent with reaching the correct and preferable decision; that is accessible and responsive to the diverse needs of parties, that improves the transparency and quality of decision-making; and that promotes public trust and confidence in the tribunal, which has been lacking due to the former Liberal government's mismanagement of administrative review. The tribunal will incorporate key features to improve merits review, including simpler and more consistent processes and an emphasis on non-adversarial approaches to resolving applications; a suite of powers and procedures to respond flexibly to changing case loads and help resolve cases more efficiently and effectively; a simple membership structure with clear qualification requirements and role descriptions for each level of membership; clear and delineated roles and responsibilities for those who hold leadership positions in the tribunal, including the president and principal registrar; a transparent and merit-based appointment process for members, informed by the operational needs of the tribunal, to ensure that only the highest quality members are appointed to these very important roles; and powers for the president to manage the performance, conduct and professional development of members. We can already see, just from this very brief outline of the bill, how much better the system will be under the current government, compared to former failed Liberal Party policy.

The ART Bill will also have mechanisms to identify, escalate and report on systemic issues in administrative decision-making, including the re-establishment of the Administrative Review Council. The council will monitor the integrity of the Commonwealth administrative review system, inquire into systemic challenges in administrative law and support education and training for Commonwealth officials in administrative decision-making and administrative law. For the first time, this bill will also establish a guidance and appeals panel within the tribunal to resolve matters arising from systemic issues and to review tribunal decisions that may be affected by error. The guidance and appeals panel will provide a mechanism for escalating significant issues and addressing material errors in tribunal decisions. This will promote consistent tribunal decision-making, with rapid responses to emerging issues both within the tribunal and from government departments and agencies. Finally, the bill will enable the tribunal to publish any decision and will require it to publish all decisions involving significant conclusions of law or with implications for Commonwealth policy or administration.

This bill does go some of the way to ending Liberal Party stacking of our institutions. It breaks down the Liberal nepotism that became all too familiar under the Morrison, Turnbull and Abbott governments. I believe in institutional integrity. My community believes in and, rightly, demands institutional integrity, and that is exactly what the Labor Party is doing with this bill. That is exactly what we did with the National Anti-Corruption Commission, that is what we will continue to do as a government of the people, and that is what we will continue to do on the Central Coast in New South Wales.

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