Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not trying to be a comedian, Senator Shoebridge! I could follow Acting Deputy President Sterle's example. He's got better material than I do! Bear in mind, there are situations where Commonwealth departments don't follow the model litigant rules, and that means they don't necessarily conduct themselves as they should. They're dealing with a private citizen. You've got a private citizen against a big bureaucracy. If the government department doesn't do the right thing, I think the average, ordinary, everyday Australian deserves to get their costs. That's my view. They do that at state tribunals. I don't know why we're not doing that at the Commonwealth level. That's my last point in relation to cost.

The Attorney has been on the record stating his concerns with respect to a particular cohort of members who were appointed to the AAT under the previous government. He's given particularity, precision, with respect to the number of members appointed by the previous government; he said up to 85. That triggers a concern in my mind as to whether those members, when they apply to become members of the ART, are going to be treated fairly. Please know—and I touch upon this in the majority report. Some of the evidence which we received in terms of processes show the panels are populated with some very eminent former judges, which gives one some confidence. But please know that this is perhaps the first test of integrity of this process.

I generally believe this was unnecessary and unworthy—the loss of office compensation direction of our independent Remuneration Tribunal being overridden by this bill. Our independent Remuneration Tribunal has independently decided that, when something like this happens, this is what someone who loses their office should be paid, and this bill is introducing a different compensation scheme. I don't think that's appropriate. One of our witnesses, a professor of administrative law, said that that's bad public policy. I don't think parliamentarians in this place should be determining the remuneration of officeholders of Commonwealth entities. There's a reason that we have the independent Remuneration Tribunal. I think it's quite unseemly that their independence is being overridden by this bill.