News about the AAT
October 2020
The Review includes news about the AAT and summaries of a selection of our published decisions.
Previous issues of The Review are available on our website.
Appearing at Senate estimates
The AAT recently appeared before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee at a 2020-21 Budget Estimates hearing. AAT Registrar, Sian Leathem delivered an opening statement to highlight the Tribunal’s response to the pandemic and to recognise the efforts of members and staff in continuing to deliver our essential services.
You can read a copy of the statement on our website.
Our annual report
The AAT’s 2019-20 annual report has been tabled in Parliament and is now available to read from our website. Despite the impact of the pandemic on the way we worked throughout the year, we finalised more cases than ever before and received fewer applications. This meant we were able to reduce our backlog of cases during this period.
View the report in full or download a copy of 2019-20 at a glance for a summary outline of our performance in the year.
Unfinished business—deciding in the meantime
Not all decisions published by the AAT finalise an application for review. Sometimes we may first need to resolve a preliminary or threshold issue, which is nonetheless an important step in the review process.
Here we look at two recent interlocutory—or interim—decisions dealing with important matters prior to the substantive hearing stage.
Filardo and National Disability Insurance Agency [2020] AATA 4092
The AAT had to decide in the interim whether a father should continue representing his adult son in an NDIS matter.
Cassaniti and Commissioner of Taxation (Taxation) [2020] AATA 3447
The AAT had to decide whether an applicant should be given more time to contest her tax assessment.
Our staff produce decision summaries for a selection of AAT decisions that have been published in full on the AustLII website. We use these summaries to offer an insight into our decision-making processes and to demonstrate the diversity of our work. For the complete facts and reasons, please view the full written decisions on AustLII. View our recent decision summaries below.
General
The AAT had to decide whether to revoke the mandatory cancellation of a child visa after the applicant reoffended a second time.
The AAT had to decide whether an Iraqi woman with a psychiatric condition could complete her citizenship test.
Refugee
1723852 (Refugee) [2020] AATA 2159
Here the AAT had to consider records from Albania which cast doubt on the applicant’s claim for protection.
1622275 (Refugee) [2020] AATA 2146
The AAT had to determine whether an applicant from Myanmar had a well-founded fear of persecution in Taiwan.
The AAT Bulletin is a weekly publication containing information about recently published decisions and appeals against decisions in the AAT’s General, Freedom of Information, National Disability Insurance Scheme, Security, Taxation & Commercial and Veterans’ Appeals Divisions. The Bulletin also regularly includes a sample of decisions recently published in the AAT’s Migration & Refugee Division and Social Services & Child Support Division.
What do you think?
Write to us at Communications@aat.gov.au to provide editorial suggestions and feedback.