As a party to a migration or refugee review you can access information from your file that you have given to us, or we have given to you, such as letters, original documents or the audio recording of any hearing.

You can also ask the Department of Home Affairs to provide you with access to any written material they have provided to us.

Can I access a transcript of the hearing?

No, a transcript of the hearing is not provided.

Can I access a recording of the hearing?

Yes, all hearings are audio recorded. You can request a CD copy of the recording at the end of the hearing, free of charge.

Note: If the review is about a visa refusal or cancellation on character grounds check access to information for reviews of other types of decisions.

The public cannot access information or documents relating to a review of a migration or refugee decision, except for:

• a daily listing of reviews of migration decisions that have a hearing which is published on our website
• our decisions in some reviews.

How do I access a migration and refugee decision as a non-party?

Selected decisions are published in the Administrative Review Tribunal database on the AustLII website.

Migration decisions are usually published in full and refugee decisions are required to be edited so they do not identify the applicant or family members.

We can also decide that it is not in the public interest to publish the decision or certain information within the decision.

As a party to a social services or child support case, you can usually access information from your file that you have given to us or we have given to you, for example:

• letters
• other original documents
• our decision and reasons for the decision.

We may ask you to make a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act if your matter is finalised or if there are multiple parties.

Access to a document is not permitted if:

• it is subject to a confidentiality restriction
• a review of a child support decision has been finalised and a document contains personal information about another person, unless the document was provided by you.

Can I access a recording of the hearing?

No, we will not provide you with a recording of the hearing.

Can I access a transcript of the hearing?

Yes, but only if you apply to a court about the Tribunal's decision or make an application for us to conduct a second review of the decision.

You must order a transcript of the hearing by lodging a request form directly with Epiq:

• Epiq transcription order form [PDF, <1 MB]

You must pay the cost of obtaining a transcript. Charges are set by Epiq and are detailed on the form.

The public cannot access information or documents relating to a case the first time we review a Centrelink or child support decision except for our decision and reasons in some child support reviews.

How do I access a child support decision as a non-party?

Selected decisions are published in the Administrative Review Tribunal database on the AustLII website.

Note: If you want to access information or documents relating to a case the second time we review a Centrelink or child support decision check access to information for reviews of other types of decisions.

You can access most documents on your file.

Access to a document will not be permitted if:

• we are prevented by law from disclosing the document
• we have decided that a document is not to be disclosed
• the document has been produced in response to a summons and we have not given the party permission to access that document.

You can make a copy of any document that we allow you to access, except a transcript. We usually charge a fee for each page that is copied.

Can I access a recording of the hearing?

No, we will not provide you with a recording of the hearing.

Can I access a transcript of the hearing?

You can usually inspect a transcript if one was produced as part of deciding the review.

Otherwise, you must order a transcript of the hearing by lodging a request form directly with Epiq:

• Epiq transcription order form [PDF, <1 MB]

You must pay the cost of obtaining a transcript. Charges are set by Epiq and are detailed on the form.

Our eCase Search database provides any person access to certain information about a review.

Information is usually made available 7 days after the review has been lodged and includes:

• names of the parties and representatives
• type of review
• dates of case events
• types of key documents lodged by the parties
• outcome of the review.

No information is available on eCase Search about a review that is subject to confidentiality restrictions. 

A daily listing of reviews that have a conference, hearing or other event is published on our website and in some major newspapers.

How do I access a document as a non-party?

After a public hearing has been held and subject to any confidentiality restrictions, we will usually allow a non-party to access:

• the evidence
• if we have it, any transcript of the hearing.

We will usually allow a non-party to access orders or any decisions subject to any confidentiality restrictions.

If you want to access a document in a review, you must submit a Request by non-party for access to Tribunal documents form.

Please note that we might refer your request to the parties in the review and seek their views.

If your request is approved, you will be contacted to make an appointment to inspect the documents.

Subject to any order to the contrary, copies may be made of any document that you are permitted to inspect (other than transcript). We usually charge a fee for each page that is copied.

How do I access a decision as a non-party?

You can access a copy of a decision that has been published from the Administrative Review Tribunal database on the AustLII website.

We can decide not to publish a decision if there is a good reason to do so.

You can contact us if you are unable to find a decision on AustLII.