The body that will replace the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) could be up and running as soon as October next year.
The boss of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), which represents many AAT workers, has been assured by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus that staff will be offered jobs at the new body with equivalent pay.
The union has also been promised that staff will have a say in the consultation process to design the new body.
“We’ve had constructive engagement with the attorney-general’s office around these matters and the government has committed that it’s their intention that current staff will transition across to the new body on equivalent terms and conditions,” CPSU national secretary Melissa Donnelly told Crikey.
“They’ve also committed to involve frontline staff in through the consultation process … We’ll obviously be very keen and very active through the next stages of the process to make sure the government does hold its commitments to current staff.”
Dreyfus declined last Friday to put a target date for the establishment of the new body. But in discussions with the union, he mentioned he hoped the replacement could begin its work as soon as the final quarter of 2023.
“I understand in the final quarter of next year, the intention is it will be up and running,” Donnelly said.
The design of the new body will be informed by a working group led by former High Court justice Patrick Keane AC. The government will need to move legislation through Parliament to establish the body, which will retain most of the AAT’s functions.
Dreyfus said the AAT’s “public standing has been irreversibly damaged” after the former Coalition government allegedly stacked it with “85 former Liberal MPs, failed Liberal candidates, former Liberal staffers and other close Liberal associates without any merit-based selection process”.
“The former government fatally compromised the AAT, undermined its independence and eroded the quality and efficiency of its decision-making,” Dreyfus said.
Opposition spokesman on legal matters Julian Leeser criticised the move to abolish the tribunal, saying the “purge” would make the Labor government less accountable.
“This government is all about settling political scores,” he said. “This announcement undermines the work of the tribunal in holding this Labor government to account … Mr Dreyfus’ goal with this body is clear: reconstitute the AAT and stack it from the start.”
Is this a good move on Labor’s part or revenge? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
The impact of the Liberal’s stacking of the AAT cannot be understated, and has been as detrimental for business interests as it has been for labor, because it has slowed the entire system of regulatory justice to a crawl.
When the Liberal Party appoints apparatchicks who are unqualified technically, legally, administratively and motivationally, their use as reviewers becomes untenable to all parties because they lack the competency to conduct hearings. It doesn’t matter if you are a business immigrant or a refugee when the AAT officer hasn’t read and cannot be bothered trying to understand the immigration act. Your hearing will not take place, and if it does, it will be an unpredictable farce.
Consequently, lawyers for both or all sides are constantly faced with massive delays or worse, dead ends at the AAT, and the business of the nation is not being conducted.
Julian Leeser is a gem. His gift for surreal humour is wonderful, as shown by his comments quoted above. How does he come up with such Alice-in-Wonderland inversions of reality? What colour is the sky on his planet?
No sky. Just mirrors.
I thought ‘Lesser’ had been misspelt.
I was going to write something about Leeser’s dunder-head comments, but you have already said it.
I think Julian may just have been projecting. Understandably bewildered by the sight of basic competence.
Now start on the (un)Fair Work Commission. Another cushy and biased sinecure for failed Liberal politicians and hangers-on.
And cancel the AUKUS , which cannot be taken seriously with Kathryn “significant failure ” Campbell in charge.
Good, maybe look at doing the same to the AFP.
That would be very brave, although the case for it is overwhelming. The AFP is the nearest thing Australia has to the Roman Empire’s Praetorian Guard. Both were set up and given extraordinary power to protect the central government. Yet during the Empire the biggest menace to the life of an emperor was his Praetorian Guard. Sometimes they murdered a very bad emperor because they were disgusted by his excesses. More often, however, they were much quicker to murder any well-intentioned emperor foolish enough to attemp reforms, tackle corruption and restore discipline in the Praetorian Guard. Wise emperors paid them generous bribes at frequent intervals, as custom required, and otherwise left them well alone.
“Opposition spokesman on legal matters Julian Leeser criticised the move to abolish the tribunal, saying the “purge” would make the Labor government less accountable.” – I had thought that Julian was one of the more sensible of the LNP rabble. Forgve me
I think he is – which really shows the depths of the other end of the LNP spectrum
A callow hatchling of a right-wing think tank.