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Chapter 5 – Immigration Assessment Authority
The Immigration Assessment Authority is established under the Migration Act as a separate office within the AAT’s Migration and Refugee Division. It commenced operations in October 2015.
Role and function
The role of the IAA is to conduct reviews of fast track reviewable decisions. These are decisions, generally made by delegates of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, to refuse to grant a protection visa to a fast track applicant. Fast track applicants are unauthorised maritime arrivals who entered Australia between 13 August 2012 and 31 December 2013 who have not been taken to an offshore processing country and have been permitted by the Minister to make a protection visa application. Fast track applicants are also persons specified by the Minister by instrument.
The IAA’s objective is set out in section 473FA of the Migration Act. In carrying out its functions, the IAA must provide a mechanism of limited review that is efficient, quick, free of bias and consistent with the procedural requirements set out in the Migration Act. The IAA is independent of the Minister and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
Structure of the IAA
The IAA consists of the President of the AAT, the Division Head of the Migration and Refugee Division, the Senior Reviewer and the Reviewers.
The President and the Division Head are responsible for the overall operation and administration of the IAA. The Senior Reviewer is responsible for managing the IAA, subject to the directions of, and in accordance with policies determined by, the President and the Division Head. The Senior Reviewer must be a Senior Executive Service employee and the Reviewers must also be engaged under the Public Service Act. At 30 June 2017,
Ms Sobet Haddad was the Senior Reviewer and there were 24 Reviewers.
For the purposes of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act and the Public Service Act, the IAA is considered to be part of the AAT.
Figure 2.1 in Chapter 2 illustrates the organisational structure of the AAT, including the IAA. More information about IAA staffing is available in Appendix 2.
Steps in a review
The Department automatically refers fast track reviewable decisions to the IAA unless the applicant is an excluded fast track review applicant.
Referrals are electronic and contain the decision-maker’s statement of reasons for the decision. The Department must also give the IAA any material provided by the referred applicant to the decision-maker before the decision was made and any other material considered by the Department to be relevant to the review. In the majority of cases, the IAA reviews the decision on the papers. While the IAA has no duty to do so, it can get, request or accept any new information that was not before the Department, but may only consider it in exceptional circumstances. The IAA may request new information be given to it in writing or at an interview. The IAA does not conduct hearings. The President has issued a practice direction applying to procedures in the IAA to assist in the efficient conduct of reviews.
The IAA can:
- affirm the fast track reviewable decision to refuse the referred applicant a protection visa, or
- remit the matter to the Department for reconsideration with directions, including that the referred applicant is a refugee within the meaning of subsection 5(1) of the Migration Act.
Performance
Caseload information
As shown in Table 5.1, the number of referrals to the IAA increased significantly from 264 cases in 2015–16 to 2,664 cases in 2016–17. After receiving the first cases in October 2015, the number of referrals increased significantly in the last quarter of 2015–16 with referral rates remaining consistent throughout 2016–17.
The top five countries of origin of referred applicants in 2016–17 were Sri Lanka, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam. Chart 5.2 shows the number and proportion of referrals made for these five and all other countries.
| REFERRALS | FINALISATIONS | ON HAND AT YEAR END | MEDIAN TIME TO FINALISE (WEEKS) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16a | 264 | 130 | 134 | 5 |
| 2016–17 | 2,664 | 1,604 | 1,194 | 11 |
a The IAA commenced operations in October 2015.
The IAA recruited additional Reviewers in 2016–17 and finalised 1,604 cases. The IAA affirmed the decision in 1,333 cases. The decision was remitted to the Department for reconsideration in 261 cases. Ten cases were finalised on the basis that they were referred to the IAA in error. Table 5.3 shows the outcomes for cases finalised in 2015–16 and 2016–17.
| DECISION AFFIRMED | DECISION REMITTED | OTHERa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | % of total | No | % of total | No | % of total | |
| 2015–16 | 94 | 72% | 36 | 28% | 0 | N/A |
| 2016–17 | 1,333 | 83% | 261 | 16% | 10 | <1% |
a Cases referred to the IAA in error.
The median number of weeks from referral to decision for the reporting period was 11 weeks.
Appeals
An applicant or the Minister may seek judicial review of decisions made by the IAA under Part 8 of the Migration Act. Applications must be made to the Federal Circuit Court and decisions may be subject to further appeal.
Table 5.4 shows the number of judicial review applications lodged in 2015–16 and 2016–17 in respect of IAA decisions.
| 2015–16 | 2016–17a | |
|---|---|---|
| Number lodged | 46 | 1,048 |
a This figure includes applications lodged in relation to IAA decisions made in the previous year.
During the reporting year, the Federal Circuit Court finalised 115 judicial review applications. In 25 of the applications, the case was remitted to the IAA: 18 by consent and seven by judgment. There have been 56 further appeals to the Federal Court: the Minister appealed five of the judgment decisions and applicants appealed 51 of the decisions dismissing the judicial review application.
Complaints
During 2016–17, the IAA did not receive any complaints.
