Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make my contribution to the Administrative Review Tribunal (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2024. The bill represents the culmination of a reform package that abolishes the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The ART will commence on 14 October 2024. As a result, this bill attracts a time-critical status. Whilst it's preferable that the bill commences at the same time as the entire legislative package, it will not significantly impact upon the operations of the ART if it occurs a short time after commencement.

The bill seeks to amend 52 pieces of legislation to make technical amendments to ensure that the ART operates as intended. The bill aims to improve the ART's operation for citizens applying to the tribunal by excluding the period between 24 December and 14 January from the 28-day period in which appeals to the federal court can be made; clarifying that practice directions can specify an alternative timeframe for decision-makers to provide the tribunal with additional documents; amending authorisations so that persons exercising powers and functions in the tribunal's intelligence and security jurisdiction are of an appropriate level of seniority and experience; ensuring that the Attorney-General can delegate the power to authorise the payment of costs or grant legal or financial assistance to officers in the department; and clarifying when 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 proceedings if they would have been able to apply for the review of the substantive decision.

The reconstruction of the AAT as the ART was an essential reform carried out by the Albanese Labor government as a result of the abject failure of the former coalition government to ensure a fully functioning, apolitical tribunal. So fatally compromised was the AAT by almost a decade of coalition political stacking that our government had to take action to entirely reconstruct the tribunal. There's been a long history of blatant political appointments to the AAT. In February 2019, former coalition minister Christian Porter made 34 appointments to the AAT, 19 of which were Liberal Party advisers, candidates or former members of parliament. In April 2022, just prior to the last federal election and prior to entering caretaker mode, former coalition minister Michaelia Cash made 19 appointments to the AAT, six of which were Liberal Party advisers, candidates or former members of parliament. This included a former New South Wales Liberal minister, a biographer of John Howard, two former WA state Liberal MPs who had just lost their seats in the March 2022 WA election, and three advisers to former coalition ministers. Between 2019 and 2022, 40 per cent of the appointments had political backgrounds. Under the Howard, Rudd and Gillard governments, the figure was in the order of five or six per cent. It would seem that the former government saw the purpose of the AAT as a retirement village rather than a key institution of democracy and our legal system.

With so many influential former colleagues appointed to the AAT, it is no surprise that the coalition, now in opposition, voted against this package of reforms. It's also no surprise that the government of robodebt, colour-coded spreadsheets and general administrative chaos left the Albanese Labor government an AAT that was not on a sustainable footing and that was beset by delays, with an extraordinarily large backlog of applications. Its independence was so fundamentally undermined and the quality and efficiency of its decision-making so eroded that it necessitated total reconstruction.

Whilst this bill is of a highly technical nature, the broader reform package reconstructing the politicised and derelict AAT as the ART will have tangible benefits for many constituents of mine. The new ART will be fair and just. It will resolve applications in a timely manner. It will be accessible and transparent and restore trust and confidence. Improving the practical functions of the ART will assist hundreds of constituents who seek administrative review of government decisions across a broad range of areas. From decisions relating to social security, the NDIS, aged care and immigration appeals, the new ART will assist applicants to reach a conclusion more efficiently and will be easier to navigate. I would like to commend the bill to the House.

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