Amalgamation of Tribunals

The Tribunals Amalgamation Act 2015, passed by Parliament on 13 May 2015, will come into effect on 1 July 2015. From that date the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, along with the Migration Review-Refugee Review Tribunal will join the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The amalgamation is expected to generate efficiencies and savings through sharing financial governance, IT and human resources.

For the large part the current processes for each Tribunal will be maintained and the legislation provides for the work of the existing Tribunals to be conducted by a special division within the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Existing applicants will not need to submit a new application as all undecided reviews will automatically be transferred to the new Tribunal.

However, of note in family law matters is some changes in relation to child support matters - currently conducted by the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. Judicial reviews will now be to the Federal Circuit Court and the Federal Court rather than to the Family Court.