Actions for the 48th Parliament of Australia
Improve due process, transparency and fairness for people seeking review of federal government decisions that impact their safety and wellbeing
The Administrative Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) conducts independent reviews of administrative decisions made by government departments, ministers, or government agencies including Services Australia, the Department of Home Affairs, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. This review system must be accessible and fair.
Problem:
Tribunal decisions can have a profound impact on people, especially those who experience barriers to justice and those with historically low rates of appeal to the Tribunal, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and people in regional and remote communities.
The reforms which commenced from October 2024 have not delivered improvements in the transparency, accessibility or timeliness of federal administrative review decisions.
Lodging applications with the Tribunal remains difficult, particularly for people experiencing poverty or domestic and family violence, people with disability, people who speak limited English, and people who don’t have legal representation. The Tribunal is not doing enough to ensure applicants can access interpreters or litigation guardians, or to facilitate referrals to free specialist legal assistance services. No duty lawyer services have been set up or funded to assist people to access the Tribunal.
Current Tribunal practices are making it harder for legal assistance services to effectively represent their clients. Key areas for improvement include better facilitating access to documents (including hearing papers and other material relevant to the decision on review) and enhanced communicating and coordinating with community lawyers when scheduling hearings and conducting proceedings.
Solution:
Reform the Administrative Review Tribunal so all people can lodge applications, including people without access to representation. This includes connecting people to support services, ensuring access to interpreters, and making referrals to free legal services.
Reform the Tribunal so that, where possible, it operates in a non-adversarial way.
Remove the distinctive and discriminatory procedural code for applicants in the Migration and Refugee Division of the Tribunal.
Improve the Tribunal’s collaboration with community legal centres so that centres can better represent their clients, including by facilitating access to documents and being more flexible in scheduling.
Arrange and facilitate Tribunal duty lawyer services in conjunction with other services operated by the legal assistance sector.