Speech delivered by the Hon Justice Emilios Kyrou AO, President of the Administrative Review Tribunal, on the anniversary of the Tribunal's commencement at its Sydney registry, 14 October 2025

Good morning and welcome to this nationally broadcast morning tea to celebrate the Tribunal’s first anniversary.

I am very pleased to inform you that one of our First Nations members, Jodie Camden, has kindly offered to give the Acknowledgement of Country. Please welcome Jodie.

We are very fortunate to have with us the Attorney-General, the Honourable Michelle Rowland MP, who will address us shortly. We also welcome members of the Attorney’s staff. In Sydney, we are delighted to welcome the Honourable Justice Thomas Thawley, who was the acting President during July this year, and Professor Margaret Allars SC, the Chair of the Administrative Review Council.

In Brisbane, we welcome the Honourable Justice Berna Collier. In Melbourne, we welcome the Honourable Justice Timothy McEvoy.

The lead up to the commencement of the Tribunal in October last year was full of excitement, anticipation and some trepidation. I was particularly anxious that the AAT’s IT systems would crash at midnight on Sunday 13 October and prevent Tribunal users from accessing our systems.

This anxiety reminded me of the panic that some people voiced in the lead up to midnight on 31 December 1999 about the world as we knew it ending due to the Y2K bug. My practice as a solicitor back then included advising clients on Y2K issues. Whilst I did not subscribe to the doomsday predictions, I must admit that I had two fully charged mobile phones ready to take calls at 1 second past midnight. However, my pantry was not fully stocked with food, and I did not buy boxes of candles. 

Midnight on Sunday 13 October was not as dramatic. However, I admit to logging on to the Tribunal’s systems at 5am on Monday with some dread, and was enormously relieved to find that everything seemed to be working. I fully relaxed when Michael Hawkins called me not long afterwards to inform me that we had already received our first online ART applications without any technical problems. 

Looking back at the last 12 months, I am amazed at how far we have come. We have overcome enormous challenges and have established a tribunal which is well on the way to meeting its statutory objective and achieving its vision of being a tribunal of excellence.

Our key achievements include the following:

• We have updated our Practice Directions and procedural documents, and provided extensive training to our members to ensure that we deal with all cases before us in a fair and just manner.
• The timeliness of our decision-making has improved dramatically from the time that I joined the AAT in June 2023. However, there is always room for improvement.
• The number of cases that are more than 3 years old has decreased significantly.
• We have appointed a large number of registrars who are doing an excellent job in resolving disputes by agreement and dealing with routine procedural issues which were previously handled by members. Members are now able to focus on hearing and determining contested cases.
• We have received feedback that the quality of our decisions has improved markedly. This is not surprising in light of the fact that all our members have been appointed through a merit-based assessment process. However, once again, there is room for improvement.
• We have established comprehensive programs for the education, training and professional development of our members and staff.
• We have established minimum standards of behaviour and performance for members by publishing the Member Code of Conduct and the Member Performance Standard.
• We have established systems and programs to improve the accessibility and responsiveness of the Tribunal to the diverse needs of parties. The initiatives include the creation of an Accessibility Advisory Group, the broadening of the range of adjustments we can offer applicants to enable them to participate in the Tribunal’s processes effectively, and the appointment of 6 First Nations liaison officers.
• A steady number of cases have been referred to the new Guidance and Appeals Panel, which is in the process of making Tribunal guidance decisions to promote consistency in our decision-making and improve the transparency and quality of government decision-making. The improvement in the transparency and quality of government decision-making has also been facilitated by the two notices of systemic issues I have given.
• We have established robust management and governance mechanisms, with our 23 Lists and the Tribunal Advisory Committee. On the administrative side, we have established a Senior Management Committee and 8 subcommittees, ensuring that we have appropriate guardrails in place to manage our finances, information technology, Human Resources and workplace safety and well-being.
• In our most recent independent auditor’s report, we achieved an outstanding result with no audit recommendations being reported. This is the best audit result possible.
• We have actively engaged with stakeholders and the community more generally to inform them of our work and to promote public trust and confidence in the Tribunal.
• We have built upon the foundations laid by the AAT to be the primary source of redress for individuals and organisations aggrieved by Commonwealth government decisions.

All these achievements have resulted from members and staff working together collaboratively with a common vision and purpose, and consistent with our Tribunal values of respect, integrity, collaboration and fairness. 

I would like to acknowledge my deep appreciation to all members and staff for their hard work, dedication and commitment to the Tribunal and the important public function that it performs. 

Those qualities will be in high demand as we go forward. Important challenges remain. Most of those challenges are directly or indirectly related to the unprecedented growth in our lodgements, the inadequacy of our legacy case management systems and the fact that the increases in the number of our members and staff have not kept up with the increases in our caseload. 

I do not underestimate the enormity of the challenges that we face. However, neither do I underestimate the depth of talent and resilience of our members and staff. I have absolutely no doubt that, working together, we will overcome these challenges. Collectively, we will continue to consolidate our achievements and realise our goal of the Tribunal earning the public’s trust and confidence and being recognised as a tribunal of excellence. 

The completion of our first year provides us with an opportunity to reflect on what has worked well, and what has not worked well, and how we can continue to make improvements in the way we operate.

We must never forget that our role in providing merits review on matters that profoundly affect the personal and business affairs of applicants underpins Australia’s democratic values and the rule of law. Our work is not simply processing applications for review. Our decisions have life changing impacts on applicants, many of whom are amongst the most marginalised and vulnerable members of the community. 

That is all from me. 

Before I hand over to the Attorney-General, I would like to acknowledge the support that she and her office have provided to the Tribunal since her appointment to the role in May this year. The Attorney has been very responsive to our needs, particularly in relation to the appointment of members. 

It is not necessary for me to provide a detailed introduction for the Attorney. It suffices to say that, before entering Parliament in 2010, she practised as a solicitor and served as Communications Minister before assuming the role of Attorney-General. In speeches she has made since becoming Attorney-General, she has demonstrated a passion for the rule of law and access to justice, and a desire to harness the benefits of AI. 

Please welcome the Attorney-General.