Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to rise after the member for Robertson, who gave an outstanding account of the importance of this bill, the Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023. He clearly demonstrated his commitment to institutional integrity and to all the reforms the Attorney-General has laid out in this bill. I commend the member for Robertson on his fine contribution to this important reform.

The Administrative Review Tribunal (Consequential and Transitional Provisions No. 1) Bill 2023 and the Administrative Review Tribunal (Consequential and Transitional Provisions No. 2) Bill 2024 are important bills because, like with so many things when coming into government, we faced a deluge of Liberal mess, of Liberal fingerprints all over the different aspects of government and government administration. We had to take the broom and sweep out the mess because it was messy here when we walked in.

Thankfully, these bills go a long way to rectifying some of the more egregious aspects of the way in which the former government administered the AAT and made it a Liberal Party retirement village. Anyone involved in the Liberal Party was able to just submit a CV to the former Attorney-General, and away you went—you got your ticket into the AAT, and you got your parking spot and your salary; you didn't have to bother turning up for work but you could certainly collect your salary. That was the classic example of the way in which the former coalition government administered the AAT. They were not worried about things like whether or not someone had any experience in administrative matters. That is a detail the Liberal Party did not bother themselves with: 'Have you had any experience in administering or being a decision-maker on a tribunal in any way, shape or form? Yes? Sure, come on down. No? No problems; you're welcome in the Liberal Party AAT. This is the place for you.' That was according to the former government.

But we have a different approach. That is not how you should be administering these important institutions. We actually believe in the integrity of our institutions. We saw the approach of the former government around a national anticorruption commission. They promised a national anticorruption commission, promised they were going to deliver one, promised they were going to restore faith and trust in politics—and what did the former Prime Minister do? He made an exposure draft of a national anticorruption commission bill. He didn't bother bringing it into the parliament. It's going to be hard to set up a national anticorruption commission if you don't actually bring the bill into the parliament. That was a classic example of the way the former Liberal government managed these things.

Then you have the AAT. You would have thought: 'Look, maybe there's one former Attorney-General or one credentialled member of the Liberal Party who was a candidate who narrowly missed out. It shouldn't preclude you from having an appointment if you are qualified.' But that's not what happened in the former government. I make the comment that there were some good members of the AAT that were appointed, and we thank them and anyone who was diligently working through these matters in order to try and bring about a timely result for people. But that wasn't the approach of the Liberal Party. The biggest piece of evidence of that was the fact it wasn't just one or two former members of the Liberal Party who were appointed to these positions; they appointed 85 former Liberal MPs, unsuccessful candidates, ex-staffers and other close associates. That is an extraordinary amount of former Liberal Party apparatchiks who were appointed as administrators on a tribunal which decides real-world matters for the people of Australia. What does that say to the people who are turning up to the AAT—that, instead of having someone who has experience in deciding these matters, they're going to get a Liberal Party operative? What an appalling thing to say to the people of Australia.

Going back to the fact of whether or not these people had any expertise: some people did, but to appoint people without expertise and without relevant experience is frankly insulting to the Australian people. But it was a reflection of the way in which the previous government were Liberals first and worried about the proper administration of government second. What was the consequence of that? It's hardly surprising when you appoint apparatchiks as important administrators or decision-makers on tribunals. The first thing was that public faith in the institution completely tanked. The public did not have confidence in the AAT. There was a complete erosion of the independence of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, because, when you have that many political appointments, how many of them are still communicating about matters to government members? How many of them are still carrying potential links and ties with their political affiliations? Were they managing it correctly? All of these things come into question when you have that many people being appointed to roles that should not be political.

The worst thing about it is that the role of the AAT is crucial. This is an institution that helps decide and determine real-world matters for Australians. I remember when we came into government we were presented, in Macnamara, with tens of cases that were before the AAT in relation to unresolved NDIS matters. These were people who were sent to the AAT, basically, by the former government to have their NDIS case resolved, only to be greeted by a handful of former Liberal Party apparatchiks. It was an outrageous way in which to govern and an outrageous way in which to have a mechanism which people can access in order to resolve matters and resolve access to schemes as important as the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The other thing about the AAT that was extremely important was that it was about giving people access to a fair hearing. Not everybody can afford the full court, and not every decision needs to go to a full court, but having an institution or a tribunal that can decide matters in a cost-effective and timely way is essential. So why would you not give that institution the respect of having people with experience, having people with independence and having people with the expertise to administer that properly?

That wasn't the approach of the former government, and that's why these bills today are so important. That's why these bills today are essential not just for the proper administration of the new Administrative Review Tribunal but also for the Australian people who need access to that tribunal. These reforms are essential for the Australian people who need their cases resolved, who need access to a decision-making body that can resolve disputes and do so in a timely and cost-effective manner. It is for those Australian people that this reform and the establishment of the Administrative Review Tribunal are so important.

What are some of the key aspects of this? The first one is that any new appointment to the new body will be done as part of the merit based selection process. That doesn't mean carrying a political party's membership card; that means demonstrating experience, expertise and judgement to be able to manage these cases. I think that seems pretty reasonable, and this is a completely different approach to that which the former government took.

The previous speaker mentioned this, but I think it's worth repeating that this bill also implements the three recommendations from the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee inquiry into the performance and integrity of Australia's administrative review system. It implements four recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme—another shameful episode in the former government's mismanagement of government programs and its impacts on ordinary and vulnerable Australian people. The robodebt royal commission revealed one of the most shameful episodes in government administration. Every step should be taken to ensure that that sort of shameful neglect and illegal activity towards the Australian people is never repeated again. I'm glad that there are recommendations from that royal commission that are implemented in this bill, as well as the government response to two recommendations from the Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System. This is a comprehensive approach. It will be filled with people who are appropriate, who are experienced, who are independent and who can do the job on behalf of those people who are seeking the decision-making capability of this tribunal.

There are also aspects and objectives of the tribunal that will be included to provide an independent mechanism of review. That is around making sure that the objectives of the tribunal will be fair and just and that any application will be resolved in a timely matter and with as little formality and expense as is consistent with reaching the correct or preferable decision. I know that my good friend and colleague the member for Burt—who has deep experience in the law and who is in the chamber right now—would understand, as well as many others, the importance of access to affordable decision-making processes and access to some form of justice in a timely and affordable way. This is an important step as part of this Administrative Review Tribunal.

It is also around improving the transparency and quality of decision-making. That is an important objective of all of this. One of the key objectives of this tribunal is to promote public trust and confidence in the tribunal. This is a system where we are trying to make things fair and just and trying to do things in a timely manner, in a way that is accessible and in a way that is designed to assist those people who require it—and to do so in a timely and transparent manner. All of this is designed to help build confidence in the public so that they can access this tribunal with confidence.

There are also key features to improve merits review, including: simpler and more consistent processes, an emphasis on non-adversarial approaches to resolving applications; a suite of powers and procedures to respond flexibly to changing caseloads and help resolve cases more efficiently and effectively; and a number of others that I'm not going to mention in this speech because time is running out.

This is an important reform. When we came into government the AAT was in complete disarray. It was a financial mess. There were backlogs and delays that were facing those people who needed it. There was a history of mismanagement. Worst of all, it was basically a Liberal Party branch meeting, with many tribunal members lacking the qualifications required in order to perform the role. The people who missed out and the people who that affected were the Australian people.

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