George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I have some further information in relation to a question I took on notice from Senator Siewert on Monday. Senator Siewert asked, in her primary question, if there had been an increase in the number of disability support pension cases at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal over the past two years. I can inform the senator that in 2014-15, prior to its amalgamation, the Social Security Appeals Tribunal received 6,138 lodgements for first-tier review of disability support pension matters. In the same year, the AAT received 1,253 lodgements for second-tier review. In 2015-16, the amalgamated AAT's Social Services and Child Support Division received 6,525 lodgements for first-tier review, and its general division received 1,427 lodgements for second-tier review. Senator, as you will see, there was a slight increase in the number of disability support pension cases lodged with the AAT or its predecessor, the equivalent tribunal, over that period.

In your first supplementary question, Senator Siewert, you asked how many cases have been reviewed by the AAT and how many have been successfully repealed. In 2014-15, the Social Security Appeals Tribunal finalised 5,554 first-tier reviews. In 16 per cent of those reviews the original decision was varied or set aside. In the same year, the AAT finalised 1,108 second-tier reviews. In 18 per cent of those reviews the original decision was varied or set aside. As you will see, Senator Siewert, the successful appeal rate in that year was a little over 16 per cent. In 2015-16, the AAT finalised 6,310 first-tier reviews. In 17 per cent of those reviews the original decision was varied or set aside. In the same year, the AAT finalised 1,265 second-tier reviews. In 19 per cent of these reviews the original decision was varied or set aside. In that year the successful appeal rate was about 18 per cent.

Finally, Senator Siewert, you asked how many people have had to appear before the AAT without legal aid advice due to a lack of resources or access. I can inform you that the majority of applicants seeking review of DSP decisions are self-represented and that this is consistent with the deliberately informal and accessible nature of the AAT. In other words, most commonly parties before the AAT do represent themselves—that is the way the AAT was set up, to promote the informal administration of administrative review.

The AAT holds statistical information regarding applicants who appear unrepresented on review; however, those figures do not include persons who may have had an appointment with a legal aid solicitor as part of legal advice schemes that operate in the Social Security Appeals Tribunal and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. It may well be that among that number of people there were some who had sought advice from legal aid before they appeared for themselves, but the AAT does not collect those figures.

In 2014-15, 4,473 or 81 per cent of applicants who appeared before the AAT on first-tier review of DSP matters were recorded as not having a legal representative for the review. In the same year, 87 per cent of applicants who appeared before the AAT on second-tier review of DSP matters were recorded as not having a legal representative for the review. In 2015-16, 4,890 or 77 per cent of applicants who appeared before the AAT on first-tier review of DSP matters were recorded as not having a legal representative for the review. In the same year, 89 per cent of applicants who appeared before the AAT on second-tier review of DSP matters were recorded as not having a legal representative for the review.