Taking stock 24 months after the ART’s commencement
Speech by Justice Kyrou at the ART’s second anniversary celebration in Sydney
I would also like to extend a warm welcome to Chief Justice Mortimer and our other guests. Your presence makes this special event even more special.
I do not propose to speak for very long. I just want to take stock of where the Tribunal is at, 24 months after its commencement, and acknowledge everyone’s contribution.
I view the period from 14 October 2024 until 30 June 2025 as the period of transition from the AAT. I regard the last financial year – which was the first full financial year of the Tribunal’s operation – as the year of consolidation. I consider the current financial year as the year in which we begin our quest to be recognised as a tribunal of excellence.
The last financial year has provided strong foundations for this goal. As I have said on many occasions, with only 70% of our budgeted member FTE, we achieved 97% of our target finalisations, inclusive of withdrawals and decisions by consent. We could not have achieved these results without the commitment, diligence and perseverance of our members, our registrars and our other staff.
I have mentioned perseverance because we have continued to face considerable challenges. Despite these challenges, it has been so pleasing to see our members and staff adopt a positive attitude and getting on with the job.
With the continuing appointment of new members, I am hopeful that we will reach our budgeted member FTE before the end of this financial year. This will be an important milestone for the Tribunal, and place us in a strong position to meet our finalisation targets.
Earlier this month, I had great pleasure in announcing the appointment of 4 new Non-Judicial Deputy Presidents. I hope that I will be able to announce the appointment of new senior members soon. It is good to see our members progressing their careers within the Tribunal, and some of our staff being appointed as members.
Of course, a tribunal of excellence is not simply one that finalises a certain number of cases. The Tribunal’s decisions must be quality decisions and they must be completed on a timely basis. Also, the Tribunal must prioritise the interests of the parties from the moment an application for review is lodged. The Tribunal must ensure that the parties feel that the whole process from lodgement to finalisation is a fair, accessible and respectful one.
I am pleased to report that we continue to receive consistent feedback from stakeholders that the quality and timeliness of our decisions has improved markedly from the AAT era, and that the whole review experience is more welcoming and responsive to the diverse needs of the parties.
This feedback indicates to me that we have made an excellent start to achieving our statutory objective in section 9 of the ART Act.
When judicial colleagues ask me how the Tribunal is going, my standard response is that we are doing well on things we can control, but our task is made difficult by external events which we cannot control. I have already mentioned some of the things we can control, such as timely and quality decisions and fair processes.
In the past financial year, the proportion of our decisions which have been set aside by the courts was 1.6%, a decrease from 2.3% in the 2024-25 financial year. Also, the number of our cases which are older than 3 years has decreased by 61%.
The things we cannot control include the significant growth in lodgements, which we are not fully resourced to handle. This has resulted in a growth in our outstanding cases from 66,131 as at 30 June 2023 to 133,749 as at 30 June 2026. That is more than double.
I am grateful to the Attorney-General and the Attorney-General’s Department for the steadfast support they provide to the Tribunal.
I want to thank the Tribunal’s Jurisdictional Area Leaders and List Leaders who have provided exemplary leadership in the past financial year. I also want to acknowledge the tremendous support that Michael Hawkins, his senior leadership team and all the registry staff have provided to me and all the other members of the Tribunal.
It is truly a team effort, with all of us focusing on making the Tribunal a strong and unified national organisation which aims to serve the public and gain its trust and confidence.
There are 8 Federal Court judges who are Judicial Deputy Presidents. They provide invaluable assistance to the Tribunal by hearing some of our most complex cases, particularly tax cases where there are concurrent proceedings in the Federal Court.
You may not see the Judicial Deputy Presidents conducting hearings at the Tribunal. That is because they conduct the hearings at the Federal Court’s premises. However, they do so in their capacity as Tribunal members. I wish to extend my gratitude to them, particularly Justices Hespe and Thawley who have acted as President from time to time.
Thank you.
