While Coalition senators consider that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) needs to make some considerable improvements in its processes and procedures, we strongly reject all recommendations made in the majority report.
In rejecting the recommendations, our concerns include the following matters as set out below.
(c)
Given that we fully support the continuing operation of the 2019 Protocol for appointments to the AAT, and recommendation 2 of the majority report is predicated on the claim that the 2019 Protocol should be abandoned, we reject recommendation 2.
Notwithstanding our rejection of all recommendations in the majority report, as has been highlighted in recent Senate Estimates hearings, we are concerned about a number of the AAT’s internal processes and procedures which have given rise to inaccurate and incomplete information about a range of matters including the benchmarking of members’ work performance, case-loads and completion rates. We also support the implementation of a consistent remuneration framework for all members.
We are encouraged by the AAT’s recent efforts to address these and other matters, and look forward to future improvements.