This year’s COAT NSW Conference will be held as an in-person event only on Friday 11 October 2024 at the Pullman Hotel on Hyde Park in Sydney. The conference is themed ‘Back Together – Back to Basics’ and will involve a mix of topics designed to enhance the knowledge and skills relevant to anyone working in tribunals. The program will include sessions designed for newly appointed members as well as sessions of interest to non-legal members of tribunals and those in management roles.

The Honourable Paul Brereton, inaugural Commissioner of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, will be our keynote speaker. Justice Brian Preston of the NSW Land and Environment Court will present on the topic of decision writing and Justice Kristina Stern of the NSW Supreme Court will deliver a paper on procedural fairness.

The provisional program is now available, and discounted earlybird registration is available until 30 August 2024. Go to: https://conferences.com.au/2024-coat-nsw/ for more information and to register.

The COAT NSW AGM was held on 17 June 2024 at 4:30pm via Microsoft Teams.

The committee elected for 2024/2025 is as follows:

• Convenor Shahyar Roushan, Deputy President, Administrative Appeals Tribunal
• Vice Convenor Christine Fougere, former Principal Member, NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal
• Secretary Marie Johns, Division Head, Motor Accidents Division, Personal Injury Commission
• Treasurer Katrina Harry PSM, National Registrar, Veterans’ Review Board
  
  Committee:
• Alisa Kelly, Registrar, Mental Health Review Tribunal
• Christopher Matthies, Senior Member, NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal
• Geri Ettinger, Mediator, Personal Injury Commission
• Jason Cabarrús, Member, Administrative Appeals Tribunal
• Meena Sripathy, Senior Member, Administrative Appeals Tribunal

Secretariat: Kathryn McKenzie, COAT NSW

The Committee wishes to thank outgoing Convenor Judge Gerard Phillips for his leadership of the COAT NSW Chapter in recent years.

This year’s 2024 COAT National Conference was held on 6 & 7 June in Brisbane, in a hybrid format with participants attending in person and online. The theme was That’s a Good Tip… I can use that”. Setting the tone for the conference theme, the opening keynote address was a Top Tips presentation by Chief Justice Helen Bowskill of the Queensland Supreme Court. This was followed by an illuminating plenary on Communication with First Nations People by linguist Alex Bowen of University of Melbourne, who spoke about the significance of culture to language and the importance of listening to and learning from First Nations people.

Participants had the choice of attending one of two concurrent sessions in the afternoon. On offer were a Guardianship Masterclass with panellists Anne Britton of NCAT, Joanne Brown of QCAT and Dr John Chesterman from the Queensland Public Advocate who spoke about balancing risk and rights in a protective jurisdiction. The alternative offer was the ART of Merits Review with Justice Emilios Kyrou, President of the AAT, who addressed the significant changes to membership provisions with the benefit of a commentary from the New Zealand perspective by Trish McConnell of the NZ Private Security Licencing Authority. The day concluded with a glitzy conference dinner at Madame Wu Restaurant with participants encouraged to sparkle up and prizes awarded for best efforts!

The second day of the conference opened with a fabulous double act of sessions on AI. The first by the highly entertaining and knowledgeable duo of Dr Sandra Peter and Professor Kai Riemer from the University of Sydney. The session, aptly named Beyond the Hype: the good, the bad and the practical, elaborated on how AI is being used in different sectors and highlighted both its capabilities and limitations. We were urged to engage with, and not be (too) fearful of, the possibilities of this technology. This was followed by a presentation from Professor Lyria Bennett Moses of UNSW who honed in on practical issues of the use of AI in courts and tribunals, including when and how it can be useful.

The afternoon offered more concurrent sessions. Dr John Adams gave a very energetic post lunch performance in a masterclass on making credit findings titled ‘Liar Liar Pants on Fire’. In the other session, Professor Frank Varghese, psychiatrist, and AAT Senior Member Damien O’Donovan presided over a Compensation Masterclass focusing on psychological disorders in compensation cases. There were more concurrent sessions after a short break, addressing topics of collateral challenges (Justice Judy Hughes, President of SACAT) and vexatious and querulent litigants (Dr Grant Lester of Victoria’s Mental Health Tribunal).

The conference ended with a final afternoon plenary on interpreters by Professor Sandra Hale of UNSW. That picked up nicely where Alex Bowen ended his opening day plenary on Communication with First Nations People.  Professor Hale’s presentation included practical tips of working effectively with interpreters, rounding off the theme of the conference with excellent tips for an essential tribunal-craft skill increasingly relevant to our diverse workplaces.   

The Conference ended with Closing remarks by the new incoming COAT Chair, Malcolm Schyvens.

The 2024 National Conference was another great success. The hybrid format enabled broader participation, including interstate and trans-Tasman attendees. For those who attended in person, it was another great opportunity to meet face to face and network with new and old colleagues, and Brisbane put on its wonderful sunny disposition for the enjoyment of all!  We look forward to next year’s!
 

The Commonwealth’s new Administrative Review Tribunal, which will replace the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, will commence operations on 14 October 2024. For more information, see the Attorney-General’s media release here: https://ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centre/administrative-review-tribunal-commence-october-19-07-2024

COAT National periodically publishes a ‘Tribunal Case Update’ Bulletin, designed to assist tribunal members to keep abreast of developments in case law relevant to tribunals, especially those that relate to tribunal practice or tribunal craft. You can subscribe to the Update via the website: https://coat.asn.au/bulletin/

COAT National offers an exciting range of training programs to enhance confidence and productivity for all tribunal members. Each program has been tailored to address specific challenges in tribunal work and will offer practical guidance on carrying out the challenging role of a tribunal member.

Courses currently on offer include an induction program for new tribunal members, and introductory and advanced decision-writing courses. A flyer for the programs is available here: https://coat.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/COAT_2024-programs-June-Dec.pdf

This section of the Newsletter highlights recent leadership changes in tribunals operating in NSW.

Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal – Deputy Presidents

Several Deputy Presidents have recently been appointed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and will transition to the Administrative Review Tribunal upon its commencement:
Full-time
• Simone Burford
• Kruna Dordevic
• Gina Lazanas
• Kate Millar
• Damien O’Donovan
• Shahyar Roushan
Sessional
• Kathryn McMillan KC (sessional)
• Clare Thompson SC (sessional)

NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal – Deputy President and Division Head

Theresa Simon has been appointed as Deputy President and Head of the Consumer and Commercial Division of the NCAT, commencing in this role on 9 September 2024.

If you have announcements from other tribunals that you’d like to share in a future newsletter, please write to us at: nswchapter@coat.asn.au.