The Committee adopted an inquiry into the ART Bill and the Consequential and Transitional Bill on 14 December 2023, following a referral from the Attorney General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP.
The
ART Bill would establish the Administrative Review Tribunal (Tribunal) and set out its key features, processes and procedures. The
Consequential and Transitional Bill repeals the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975, makes consequential amendments to a number of Commonwealth Acts and provides for the transition of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal’s (AAT) operations, caseload and staff to the Tribunal. The Bills are intended to, among other things:
•
provide for a mechanism of review that is fair and just; timely, informal and inexpensive; accessible and responsive; improve the transparency and quality of government decision-making and improve public trust and confidence in the Tribunal
•
re-establish the Administrative Review Council
•
retain the jurisdiction of the AAT within the Tribunal and essential modifications to the operation of the merits review framework
•
promote consistency and simplicity by repealing special arrangements that overlap duplicate or unnecessarily displace core provisions of the ART Bill.
The Bills would implement all three recommendations of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the performance and integrity of Australia’s administrative review system, four recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme and two recommendations of the Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System.
The Committee is seeking written submissions
by 18 January 2024 to assist in its scrutiny of the bills to ensure they achieve the Government’s policy objectives and do not have unintended consequences, but will accept submissions after that date.
Further information about making a submission to a parliamentary committee is available
here.
If you have any questions about the inquiry or the process of making a submission, please contact the secretariat at spla.reps@aph.gov.au.