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The tribunals at a glance
On 1 July 2015 the Migration Review Tribunal and the Refugee Review Tribunal became the Migration and Refugee Division (MRD) within the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
The Migration Review Tribunal (the MRT) and the Refugee Review Tribunal (the RRT) were established under the Migration Act 1958 (the Migration Act). The tribunals’ jurisdictions, powers and procedures were set out in the Migration Act and in the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations).
Throughout the year the Principal Member was Ms Kay Ransome and the Registrar was Mr Colin Plowman.
Unless otherwise indicated, all information in this report is as at 30 June 2015 for the 2014–15 financial year. Table 1 provides an overview of the tribunals’ work program.
| MRT | RRT | MRT and RRT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Established | 1999 | 1993 | |
| Cases on hand at 1 July 2014 | 11,719 | 5,251 | 16,970 |
| Cases lodged | 14,398 | 4,136 | 18,534 |
| Cases decided | 16,584 | 4,983 | 21,567 |
| Cases on hand at 30 June 2015 | 9,533 | 4,404 | 13,937 |
| % of primary decisions set-aside | 33% | 21%* | 31%* |
| % of primary decisions affirmed | 47% | 72% | 51% |
| % of cases withdrawn or otherwise resolved | 20% | 7% | 18% |
| Average time taken to decide a case (weeks) | 41 | 38 | – |
| % of decided cases where applicant was represented | 67% | 70% | 68% |
| Hearings arranged | 15,993** | 5,080 | 21,073** |
| % of decided cases where hearing was held | 60% | 61% | 60% |
| % of held hearings where interpreter was required | 59% | 90% | 69% |
| Languages and dialects of interpreters | – | – | 92 |
| % of decisions taken to judicial review | 11.1% | 28.5% | 15.1% |
| Decisions set-aside on judicial review as % of decisions made | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.6% |
| Members | 151*** | ||
| Staff | 301 | ||
| Cost | $69.5 million |
* Excludes 1,198 RRT cases, all of which were remitted to the department for reconsideration following the disallowance of clause 866.222 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994.
** Includes cases that were arranged to a hearing list.
***Includes 19 members who were appointed on 30 June 2015. See Table 10 for further detail.
Statistics
Multiple applications for review were counted as a single case where the legislation provided that the applications for review could be combined, usually where members of a family unit had applied for visas together.
The tribunals decided 21,567 cases during the year and received 18,534 lodgements
Some percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.
