Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move my amendment:

(1) Schedule 2, item 171, page 69 (line 15), at the end of subsection 368(1), add:

; and (e) inform the applicant, where possible, of any further steps needed to be taken by the applicant in order to have their matter finalised.

As we've heard this morning from the member for North Sydney, the government's Administrative Review Tribunal Bill is actually a great improvement on the previous Administrative Appeals Tribunal legislation. I have previously shared the experience of my constituents' woes with the AAT. There are recurring issues that derive from their experiences where they've struggled with accessibility due to language barriers, cost and the stress of waiting for correspondence without knowing if they would get a favourable outcome or not.

The introduction of the ART is an expensive exercise and it must be done right. In considering the experience of my constituents, my proposal for this amendment is to address the lack of notification. We often get constituents coming to our office and English is their second language, as the member for Brisbane initially mentioned. The AAT deals a lot with people from non-English-speaking backgrounds, and in my electorate of Fowler, where 70 per cent of the population have a parent or two parents born overseas, English is often a second language. Therefore, in seeking this amendment, I'm really just asking the government to consider that people need to know and to be informed about what's happening with the decision so that they can actually plan ahead. This is about procedural fairness and, basically, giving people the opportunity to plan to know what to do, and communication, as we know, is very important.

The ART, the new executive body, is a big beast, and I appreciate the cases that the ART will face and will have to consider. But I think it's a matter of fair process to just inform the review applicant of what they have to do and what they need to present to the AAT. We've been talking about the review process this morning. We've been talking about decisions being made, but are those decisions and review processes being given to clients, in particular to people of non-English-speaking backgrounds? We make legislation in this House all the time, and the legislation we make is in English and predominantly, if not 100 per cent of the time, aimed towards people whose first language is English. My hope is that the ART, as we progress to implement this legislation, will ensure that the tribunal is cognisant of the needs of multicultural communities and of those who are fronting the ART. Often, when you go into these institutions, there's a lot of stress and there are a lot of fears, because language is such a big barrier. Not being informed about what's happening with their case then adds to further stress.

As I said, there have been so many cases of people coming to see me at my office not knowing what the AAT's position is. They have not heard from the AAT. They've been waiting for years—12 months, two years or three years—without a simple notification of what's required of them or even a notification saying: 'You've been rejected. The case is concluded.' I really don't think a simple notification is too much to ask the tribunal to include in their decision.

I know that the minister will stand up and reject this amendment, but I really urge the government to consider our multicultural communities in making legislation, and such important legislation as the ART, especially in the reviewing process. Thank you.

See this speech in context