The administrative appeals tribunal has a “completely unacceptable” record of bullying complaints on top of the Coalition’s “miserable record” of stacking the body, the attorney general has said.
Mark Dreyfus made the comments in question time on Tuesday, seizing on the latest controversy involving the tribunal to bolster Labor’s case to reform or replace it due to partisan appointments made by the Coalition.
In opposition, Dreyfus frequently criticised the Coalition’s practice of appointing former staffers and politicians from its ranks to the powerful tribunal, which reviews the merits of government decisions in areas including welfare, immigration and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The government is actively considering abolishing the AAT and replacing it with a new merits review tribunal. Dreyfus did not rule out that option in June when it was proposed by a Labor-chaired Senate committee. A decision on the AAT’s future is expected as early as December.
Labor has also said it would improve the AAT appointment process through independent merit selection panels.
But relying on this to clean out the tribunal would result in a long and slow process of waiting for existing members’ terms to expire, made more difficult by a flurry of reappointments by the former the attorney general, Michaelia Cash, before the May election.
AAT members have the status of judicial officers, making their removal one by one a difficult prospect requiring approval of both houses of parliament, unless Labor’s proposed judicial commission gains the power to do so.
On Monday AAT officials revealed at Senate estimates that 19 members had faced bullying or harassment complaints since 2016 including senior members and a deputy president.
Some 17 of those members remain on the AAT, including one member who has received five complaints.
That evidence sparked a meeting with Dreyfus and the AAT president on Tuesday to discuss what measures have been put in place to deal with the complaints.
Dreyfus told the Labor caucus he is “committed to reforming” the AAT, which he described as “an institution that has suffered serious harm over recent years”.
At the National Press Club in October, Dreyfus used complaints from Liberals including Peter Dutton that the AAT could grant warrants to the National Anti-Corruption Commission to bolster the case to reform or replace the AAT.
“If ever you wanted a demonstration or a confirmation that something needs to be done about the AAT, there it was with these current members of the opposition attacking, in effect, the partisan appointments that they made with almost 90 failed Liberal candidates, former Liberal staffers, former Liberal members of parliament that have been appointed,” he said.
Dreyfus reprised the attack in question time on Tuesday, arguing those who said the AAT can’t be trusted to issue warrants “are attacking their own miserable record” of appointments.
“Each year, tens of thousands of Australians rely on the AAT to independently review decisions made by commonwealth departments and ministers that have major and sometimes life altering impacts on their lives.
“Those opposite do not care about those Australians.”
Dreyfus said the AAT’s bullying record was “completely unacceptable and it’s another problem that our government will have to address”.
“The Liberal Party of Australia deserves to be tarnished forever for the legacy of this uniquely disgraceful exhibition of political cronyism which has come at enormous cost to taxpayers, to the AAT and to Australia’s system of administrative law more generally.”
Earlier, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, gave qualified support for abolishing and replacing the AAT, accusing the Coalition of “politicising” the body.
“I think there’s a case for change and what that change looks like is something that we would want to do in a considered manner,” Bandt told reporters in Canberra.
“I think people are pretty sick of tribunals getting stacked with political mates and that we have tribunals in this country that are meant to make decisions in an independent way.”
In May Guardian Australia revealed allegations from a member of the AAT, Michael Manetta, who said he was benched from hearing social security cases because he decided too many against the government.
Manetta branded the decision “completely incompatible with the rule of law” and warned it “undermines the impartiality and independence of the tribunal”. The AAT deputy president responsible, Karen Synon, denied acting improperly.
On Monday the AAT’s registrar, Michael Hawkins, told Senate estimates that after a complaint to the AAT president “a conclusion has been reached” with Manetta reinstated. He refused to give any other details, citing the privacy of the parties.
“I understand Mr Manetta is practising in the same field again ... He is now hearing matters in the [social security] division.”
Manetta told Guardian Australia his complaint had been “grossly mishandled from beginning to end”, but declined to say more citing the confidentiality of the process.
