Labor aims to have new AAT up and running by October

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.