(ART). The Government is developing legislation to repeal the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) and to establish the ART.
The Administrative Review Council (ARC) will be re-established under the new legislation as an expert body to monitor and advise on the operation and integrity of the Commonwealth administrative review system.
The ARC will provide expertise to improve the quality of government decision-making through the development of guidance, as well as reports to provide early identification of systemic issues and opportunities for improvement across government.
Legislation is expected to be introduced in late-2023. The process to appoint ARC members would commence following passage of the legislation.
A statutory duty be imposed on departmental secretaries and agency chief executive officers to ensure that their department or agency use its best endeavours to assist the Ombudsman in any investigation concerning it, with a corresponding statutory duty on the part of Commonwealth public servants within a department or agency being investigated to use their best endeavours to assist the Ombudsman in the investigation.
The Government accepts this recommendation.
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring agencies and departments are accountable and act in a manner that is lawful, fair and transparent. A properly resourced, independent, impartial and robust Ombudsman is vital to safeguarding the community in their dealings with government agencies.
The Government agrees that a clearly stated statutory duty, imposed on departmental secretaries and agency chief executive officers, to ensure that their department or agency use its best endeavours to assist the Ombudsman would reinforce the responsibility on heads of agencies to ensure their agency engages in good faith and proactively assists the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
The Government agrees that a corresponding statutory duty on Commonwealth public servants within a department or agency being investigated to use their best endeavours to assist the Commonwealth Ombudsman would ensure the responsibility to assist is clearly individually borne by each of those responsible.
The Government also recognises the importance of the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO) in providing assurance to the community that taxation laws are being administered with integrity. The Government supports also introducing equivalent statutory duties to investigations conducted by the IGTO.
The Government will progress amendments to relevant legislation to introduce these statutory duties.
