Powers and Functions of the Council

Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 ('AAT Act'). The Council was established under Part V of the AAT Act.

As a matter of practice, the Council's functions include:

Advice to the Attorney-General

The Council provides its advice to the Attorney-General in the form of reports and letters of advice. Reports are generally tabled in the Parliament by the Attorney, and are always published. The Council's reports are available on the Publications page. 

The Council has published its letters of advice in its annual reports since 1985-86. While its project reports are tabled and published, it is only by inclusion in its annual reports that the Council's letters reach the broader community.
A list of all of the Council's letters that have been published, or summarised, in the Council's annual reports is available, on the Index of Letters of Advice and Submissions page.

The Council is happy to provide copies of its published letters, on request.

A broader advising function

Because of the Council's expertise in providing policy advice on administrative law matters, it often makes submissions to Parliamentary Committees and government bodies. The Council may also be called upon to provide advice on government legislative proposals that have administrative review implications.

Government departments and agencies often contact the Council's Secretariat to discuss, sometimes on an informal basis, the implications of any proposals that raise administrative law issues.

Raising awareness

Raising the level of community awareness of administrative review is an important priority for the Council. A principal element in the Council's efforts to raise such awareness is its Admin Review bulletin.

More information can be found on the Admin Review page.

Identifying merits reviewable decisions

One of the Council's statutory functions is to make recommendations to the Attorney-General about the classes of decisions that should be subject to merits review. An updated and consolidated set of guidelines, which the Council applies in identifying merits reviewable decisions, was published in the Council's Twenty-second Annual Report 1997-1998.

The Council has recently reformulated its guidelines, in order to make them more accessible to, and useable by, Commonwealth officers undertaking the development of legislative proposals that involve the creation of administrative powers of decision. The booklet: What decisions should be subject to merits review now clearly sets out the Council's guidelines. Hard-copies of the booklet are available from the Council, on request.

Review of the operations of the Council

The most recent, comprehensive review of how the Council is exercising its powers and fulfilling its functions can be found in the Report on the Role and Function of the Administrative Review Council, of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee.

Amendments to the AAT Act, to implement the Government's response to the Senate Committee's review of the Council, were passed by the Parliament, as part of the Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Act 1999.