EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL ACT 1975
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
1987 No. 23
Sub-section 70(1) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Sub-section 70(2) of the Act provides that, without limiting the generality of sub-section (1), the regulations may make provision prescribing fees to be payable in respect of applications to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal), and providing for the refund, in whole or part, of fees so paid where the proceeding terminates in a manner favourable to the applicant. The sub-section further provides that regulations prescribing fees may prescribe fees in respect of a particular class or classes of applications only and prescribe different fees in respect of different classes of applications.
The purpose of these regulations is to introduce a fee of $200 payable in respect of applications to the Tribunal, other than prescribed classes of applications, for which no fee will be payable. This implements the Government’s decision to introduce a filing fee of $200 for applications to the Tribunal (other than applications to review income maintenance decisions) which was announced by the Treasurer in the 1986-7 budget.
Details of the proposed regulations are as follows:
Proposed regulation 1 provides that the regulations shall come into operation on 1 March 1987.
Proposed regulation 2 inserts, after regulation 18 of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Regulations, a new regulation 19 which provides for the payment of a fee of $200 on lodging with the Tribunal an application for a review of a decision, other than a prescribed decision (Sub-regulation 19(1)). A “prescribed decision” is defined in sub-regulation 19(2) to mean:
(a) a decision under the Compensation (Commonwealth Government Employees) Act 1971, the First Home Owners Act 1983, the Home Deposit Assistance Act 1982, the Homes Savings Grant Act 1976, the Papua New Guinea (Staffing Assistance) Act 1973, the Seamen’s War Pensions and Allowances Act 1940, the Social Security Act 1947, the Student Assistance Act 1973, or the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986;
(b) a determination under section 58B of the Defence Act 1903;
(c) a decision of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Authority reviewable under section 99 of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973;
(d) a decision under the Land Rent and Rates (Deferment and Remission) Ordinance 1970;
(e) a decision under the Papua New Guinea Staffing Assistance (Superannuation) Regulations;
(f) a reviewable decision under section 154 of the Superannuation Act 1976; and
(g) a decision reviewable under section 55 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982, being a decision made in relation to a document that relates to a decision referred to in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), or (f).
Sub-regulation 19(3) provides, in effect, that no fee is payable for a request for the referral of a decision to the Tribunal where a fee is payable under a provision of another enactment on the lodging of the request. This avoids the possibility of a double payment in such circumstances. The Taxation Laws Amendment Act (No. 4) 1986 amends the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to provide for a fee of $200 to be paid on lodging with the Commissioner of Taxation a request for the referral of certain decisions to the Tribunal.
Proposed regulation 2 also inserts a new regulation 20 which provides for the refund of the prescribed fee in whole to the applicant where the fee has been paid on the lodging with the Tribunal of an application for the review of a decision and the proceeding terminates in a manner favourable to the applicant.
Authorized by the Attorney-General