Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Administrative Review Tribunal (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2024 supports the establishment of the new Administrative Review Tribunal, created by the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024(ART Act).

The ART Act received royal assent on 3 June 2024 and will commence on 14 October 2024. Two additional acts, containing consequential and transitional amendments to 248 Commonwealth acts, have also received royal assent. The ART legislative package gives effect to the government's commitment to a establish a new federal administrative review body that is user-focused, efficient, accessible, independent and fair.

This bill completes the establishment of the tribunal and ensures that existing legislation interacts effectively with it. These amendments, which are largely procedural and technical, will amend 52 Commonwealth acts (including the ART Act).

The bill is necessary and could only be introduced following the passage of the ART Act due to the volume and complexity of interactions between the ART Act and other pieces of Commonwealth legislation—particularly those already before the parliament when the ART package was introduced.

The bill makes a number of minor changes to the ART Act to improve user experience and ensure the act's intended operation is clear.

For example, the bill amends the ART Act to exclude the period between 24 December and 14 January from the calculation of the 28-day period from which a party can appeal a decision of the tribunal to the Federal Court of Australia. This addresses practical difficulties and disadvantages to parties seeking to make an appeal over the holiday period and aligns with existing practice within the federal courts.

The bill also clarifies that, where an applicant is no longer able to continue with an application for review of a decision for reasons such as death, bankruptcy or liquidation, another person may only apply to continue the proceeding if they would have been able to apply for review of the substantive decision.

The bill includes amendments to ensure that decisions of the National Archives of Australia relating to access to certain national security records are reviewed in the tribunal's Intelligence and Security jurisdictional area. This ensures that the amendments in the Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 are reflected in the new tribunal.

Amendments to other legislation

In addition to these amendments to the ART Act, the bill makes minor amendments to other laws to support the effective operation of the tribunal, consistent with the overarching objective of harmonising the federal system of administrative review.

These include: removing specific provisions of other legislation providing 28-day timeframes to apply to the tribunal for review of decisions that have been deemed to be made under the terms of those acts; amendments to legislation in the Social Services portfolio to remove the three-month time limit to apply for both internal and tribunal review of ABSTUDY or Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme debt decisions; ensuring that, once an application has been referred to the guidance and appeals panel, the decision under review cannot be varied or substituted without the tribunal's visibility; amendments to the Migration Act 1958to clarify that an application is not valid and therefore does not enliven the tribunal's jurisdiction unless it is properly made, which does not change existing requirements but ensures that applicants can easily identify, on the face of the legislation, what they are required to do to make a valid application; and amendments to the Crimes Act 1914to provide tribunal members nominated to issue post-entry and delayed notification search warrants with the same immunity and protections as tribunal members who are nominated to exercise other similar functions under the Crimes Act.

Conclusion

This bill completes the package of reforms that establishes the new Administrative Review Tribunal and reflects the ongoing commitment of this government to reforming Australia's system of administrative review. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.

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