Inquiry into the Administrative Review Tribunal 2024 Bill

RACS has consistently provided input regarding the design and implementation of the legal framework concerning the forthcoming Administrative Review Tribunal (‘ART’). This input is informed by RACS’ experience in routinely advising and assisting non-citizen applicants with challenging government decisions that fundamentally impact their safety from persecution, liberty, freedom from arbitrary and indefinite detention and ability to reunite with their families.

The refugees, people seeking asylum, displaced and stateless people that RACS supports typically experience structural exclusion and intersecting barriers to accessing justice. Such barriers can include the profound impacts of trauma arising from the experience of persecution, limited English capabilities, complex mental health issues and financial distress. Accordingly, it is critical that any proposed reform to the Administrative Review Tribunal accounts for the profile of some its most vulnerable applicants to ensure that they are equally able to access a fair, just and independent mechanism of merits review.

Our submission draws directly from our experience in supporting clients navigate the difficulties of accessing merits review in the context of their specific backgrounds. We make several recommendations that would bring the Bill closer in line with the purported objective of the Tribunal with a particular focus on the objective of accessibility.