Amalgamation of the Tribunals

20 July 2015

Under administrative law, certain decisions are subject to review before a tribunal, and thereafter, a court.

This can include decisions of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) in relation to, for example, the refusal to grant an applicant a visa for entry into Australia.

Previously, decisions of the DIBP were reviewable in either the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) or Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT).

The Commonwealth Government has now merged the MRT and RRT with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) through the Tribunals Amalgamation Act 2015 (Cth).

What does this mean for you?

As at 1 July 2015, applications for merits review of decisions of the DIBP should be lodged in the Migration and Refugee Division of the AAT.

You can find more information at the Australian Parliament website.