June 16, 2017
More than 50 members of Australia’s Admin-istrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) – an independent authority that reviews decisions of the Australian government – have been told they will not have their contracts renewed, after they rejected many rulings on immigrants.
The Guardian of Australia said it has been told at least 50—most from the migration and refugee division of the tribunal—have been told they will not be reappointed.
The AAT has been heavily criticized by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for overturning government immigration decisions in the past year. The AAT assessed 11,300 visa decisions in the year to April, overturning 39 percent of Dutton’s decisions.
The criticism focused on a number of particularly controversial cases – the decisions of which have not yet been published publicly by the AAT – including one involving six Iranian nationals determined to be refugees after they said they could not safely return to Iran but who had later visited Iran. Dutton had sought to deport them.
Dutton condemned the decisions of the tribunal, implying they were motivated by ideological opposition to the government.
“When you look at some of the judgments that are made, the sentences that are handed down, it’s always interesting to go back to have a look at the appointment of the particular Labor government of the day,” he told 2GB radio. Dutton is from the Liberal Party, which is the more conservative party in Australia, despite the name.
Law Council of Australia President Fiona McLeod condemned Dutton’s comments as an attack on the judiciary’s independence, saying tribunal members reviewed government decisions “in accordance with law, not personal preference or ideology.”
“Any suggestion by government that Australian jurists are not acting with independence is dangerous and erosive to our justice system,” she said. “It undermines the public perception of the legitimate role of the judiciary and weakens the rule of law.”
The minister holds an unchallengeable authority to overrule the decisions of the AAT in visa cases on character grounds. New sections were introduced into the migration act by Dutton’s predecessor to give the minister greater powers to overrule AAT decisions.
The original power to overturn the AAT was introduced by Philip Ruddock, when he was immigration minister in 1999, again over government dissatisfaction at tribunal decisions.