Part 1 – Principal Member’s Report

Principal Member

“I am pleased to report that the tribunals performed strongly in 2012-13”

This year the tribunals completed 19,347 reviews compared to 10,815 reviews in 2011-12. This increase in activity was in response to large increases in lodgements over the last three years and involved sustained effort by members and staff and the adoption of new work practices.

The tribunals had a large number of cases on hand at the beginning of the year after successive years of large increases in lodgements. These increases, of 25% in 2010-11 and 30% in 2011-12, exceeded forecasts and the capacity of the tribunals to deal with the volume of cases. While lodgements increased again by 18% in 2012-13, over the last six months of the year the tribunals finalised more cases than were received. This was not sufficient to reduce the overall number of cases on hand at the end of the year. However the tribunals enter 2013-14 with the capacity to make significant progress in this regard, and in doing so to improve processing times.

The new work practices included the reorganisation of members and staff into specialist teams, having senior members responsible for specific caseloads, and developing strategies for particular caseloads, including the use of pre-hearing letters and hearing lists. These changes had the aim of addressing the increased caseload while not diminishing the quality of reviews, and I can report that the quality of reviews and decisions remained high. There was no significant change in the percentage of cases that were subject to judicial review applications or complaints, and less than 1% of the decisions made during the year were set-aside by a court or were the subject of a complaint.

One important change in the nature of the caseload in 2012-13 was the flow of protection visa cases involving unauthorised maritime arrivals. Under the Migration Act, unauthorised maritime arrivals are barred from applying for any kind of visa unless the Minister permits them to do so. As part of changes to processing arrangements made in March 2012, the Minister began permitting unauthorised maritime arrivals to apply for protection visas. The applicants then had a right to tribunal review if a delegate of the Minister subsequently refused to grant a protection visa. Over the course of 2012-13, 1,518 applications for review were received from unauthorised maritime arrivals, most of whom were nationals of Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. This changed the profile of protection visa cases with the tribunals, with Sri Lanka (701 cases) replacing China (608 cases) as the largest source country for review lodgements.

As the year drew to a close there were a number of reviews in train involving the process of refugee status determination arising from the increase in the number of unauthorised maritime arrivals. Outcomes of these reviews may have an impact on the operations of the tribunals in the future. For example, the government has decided to establish a single independent source of country of origin information service for decision-makers in the department and the tribunals. The Minister has also issued directions affecting the handling of protection visa cases.

During the year the tribunals continued a commitment to being open and accessible and building productive working relationships. Monthly updates were provided to the community liaison network and meetings held across the country in November 2012 and April-May 2013 provided a forum for the tribunals to update interested parties on significant developments and to enable them to give feedback to the tribunals. The tribunals also conducted surveys of former applicants, migration agents and interpreters, and these provided mostly positive feedback on tribunal services. Wherever possible, suggestions for improvements have been acted upon so we can provide a better service.

The tribunals start 2013-14 in a good position. The key priority for the tribunals is to build on the changes introduced in 2012-13 to increase the number of reviews completed so as to reduce the number of cases on hand and to provide a more timely service to applicants.

The RRT has decided over 86,000 cases since 1993

1 July 2013 was the 20th anniversary of the Refugee Review Tribunal. This anniversary was an important milestone and a celebratory morning tea was held for all staff and members across the country. A number of former principal members attended and an address was given by Professor Leroy Certoma, the first principal member. He spoke to the importance of independent review of administrative decisions and noted among other things that more than 86,000 protection visa reviews had been conducted since 1993.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the very hard work of staff and members during 2012-13, and thank them for their support.