Rex Patrick (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Thank you. I want to put on record my concern in relation to this. Normally, a presidential member is a judicial member as well, and I have no issue with a judicial member doing this. Some of the deputy presidents are former QCs, for example. When you start getting down to senior members and members, they can be all sorts of appointees—I know you'll understand this; I'm not trying to be political here—including appointees of both the Liberal Party and the Labor Party under the provisions of the AAT Act that allow a person to be appointed if they have a particular experience that is needed by the AAT. That means that we have seen the appointment—to be fair, both Liberal Party and Labor Party appointees—of former staffers, advisers and so forth. My concern is that this is a power that would normally—you'd normally want someone who has a strong legal background so as to ensure that there is not any abuse. You might recall that during the media raids we had difficulties with warrants being issued and there was a subsequent High Court matter. I just want to understand whether or not, because it is one of the requirements in the AAT Act for one class of member to have a law degree, anyone is likely to be nominated to carry out these particular functions if they don't have suitable legal qualifications.