Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Attorney-General. Why is reform of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal so vital?

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

I thank the member for Holt for her question. It's an important question. As everyone in this place is aware, under the former government the Administrative Appeals Tribunal became dysfunctional, with enormous backlogs—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. The Attorney-General will pause. We are 10 seconds into the answer. I'm going to ask the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to cease interjecting so I can hear the answer to this question.

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

As everyone in this place is aware, under the former government the Administrative Appeals Tribunal became dysfunctional, with enormous backlogs causing delays of many months and, in some areas, even years. Through active stacking and wilful neglect the former government left the AAT to rot, and Australians suffered as a result.

The people affected by these delays are among our most vulnerable: people relying on Centrelink, NDIS clients and veterans. I'm pleased that the legislation to abolish the AAT and replace it with a new administrative review body that is user focused, efficient, accessible, independent and fair, passed this place today.

I'm grateful to my friend the member for Macquarie, who chairs the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, and thank the committee for its excellent work, thorough consultations and thoughtful report. That committee unanimously recommended that the bill pass this place. I'd also like to thank Senator Nita Green, as the Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, and thank her committee for its work on this important legislation.

This is vital reform. It will have a lasting benefit, a real benefit, for the lives of thousands of Australians—Australians who, sadly, were abandoned by the former government.

I've had productive conversations across the parliament with those who understand the value of these reforms and the importance of delivering on the new tribunal as a priority. Australians are relying on us to get on with the job of establishing the new Administrative Review Tribunal. We know the Liberal Party wants to delay these reforms as long as possible. It's about protecting their stack—all their Liberal mates appointed without any merit based process, just a call from the minister's office.