Malaysian ‘refugees’ top appeals cases, Senate Estimates told

Malaysians claiming refugee status made up half of the cases heard by an appeals tribunal in the second half of 2017.

There has been a significant increase in migration and refugee appeals to the AAT over the past 18 months.

Malaysians claiming refugee status made up about 50 per cent of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal’s refugee caseload in the second half of 2017.

A Senate Estimates hearing has been told there has been a significant increase in migration and refugee appeals to the AAT over the past 18 months for which statistics are available, largely driven by people from Malaysia.

Centrelink and child support appeals were also up in the 2016-17 financial year, coinciding with the Turnbull government’s robo-debt push, but declined alongside all social security-related appeals in the second half of 2017.

Appeals relating to the Disability Support Pension made up the largest proportion of social security matters.

The AAT operates as a “one-stop shop” for reviewing decisions made by the Australian government, but its two largest divisions are migration and refugees, and social security and child support.

AAT Registrar Sian Leathem said the organisation had received 51,426 applications across all areas in the 2016-17 financial year, up 24 per cent on 2015-16.

“For the first half of 2017-18 we’ve received a further 29,537 applications.

“That actually is equivalent to 57 per cent of what we’d received at same point in time the previous year, so it’s effectively a 16 per cent increase from that period in time,” Ms Leathem said.

In 2016-17 the migration and refugee division of the AAT received 26,604 applications, representing a 41 per cent increase.

Ms Leathem said the caseload in the migration and refugees division had accelerated during the second half of 2017.

“So we are looking at the moment for example, from July to December 2017 we’ve had a total of 19,039 applications in the migration and refugee division, and that’s a 51 per cent increase compared to the same period last year,” she said.

Asked what was driving the increase, Ms Leathem said she was unable to go into much detail.

“But I can tell you in terms of the caseload what we’re seeing for lodgements. There has been significant increases in the migration and refugee side of things, but particularly in the refugee caseload a large number of Malaysian applications,” she said.

“I think they represent about 50 per cent of lodgements.”

Ms Leathem said the migration and refugee division had seen higher numbers of business-related cases and student visa refusals.

She said the AAT had set aside 23 per cent of decisions made by ministers and departments so far in 2017-18, down from 26 per cent in 2016-17.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has been outspoken in his criticism of the AAT, expressing concern that it has the ability to make decisions against Australia’s national interest by ignoring his department’s advice and overturning government deportation orders.

Ms Leathem said the AAT had set aside 30 per cent of migration cases in the second half of 2017, but only five per cent of refugee cases.

“I would say that that has been impacted by the high volume of Malaysian matters that are being dealt with, and there’s a significant number of people in that category who often will not turn up for a hearing, so the set aside rate has been effectively a lot lower for that cohort of cases, so I suspect that’s impacting on the overall set-aside number,” she said.

“In the refugee division for whatever reason, most of the departmental decisions have been affirmed, have not been set aside.”

Ms Leathem said that only 3.9 per cent of AAT decisions had been successfully overturned on appeal in the second half or 2017.

AAT executive director Chris Mathews said that in 2016-17 Mr Dutton had lodged seven appeals against AAT decisions.

In the second half of 2017 Mr Dutton lodged one appeal.

Labor Senator Louise Pratt asked questions about former Attorney-General George Brandis’s decision to not renew the appointments of 50 members of the AAT, following criticisms of their decisions by government ministers including Mr Dutton.

Attorney-General’s Department Chief Operating Officer Iain Anderson said it was usual practice for appointments to be renewed at the discretion of the government, and for no reasons to be provided should a contract not be renewed.

In 2016-17 Centrelink-relate appeals to the AAT were up 13 per cent, while child support applications were up 5 per cent and paid parental leave 26 per cent.

Year-to-date Social security applications are down 27 per cent.

Ms Leathem said disability support pension appeals comprised by far the highest proportion of social security and child support appeals.