Post by bear on May 19, 2022 18:33:32 GMT 7
Administrative Appeals Tribunal demoted barrister for making decisions against the government, he claims
An Adelaide barrister has told the ABC he has been stopped from hearing welfare debt cases at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) because he made too many decisions against the government.
Michael Manetta, a member of the AAT since 2016, was removed last September from hearing social security cases by the tribunal's new deputy president, Karen Synon.
"Because she was concerned, essentially, that I was deciding too many cases in favour of the citizen and against the government," he said.
Mr Manetta said he had found the Department of Social Services was not acting correctly applying the law when it calculated people's Centrelink debts.
"I had found areas of concern in the habitual practice of the department and the way it calculates social security debts and in other matters, which were recurring errors of law which I thought were not justified and not authorised by the act," he said.
Mr Manetta said the deputy president, a former Liberal senator, moved him to another area so he could no longer adjudicate welfare cases.
"I was given child support percentage work, which is effectively the latrine duty of the division," he said.
Mr Manetta also alleges the secretary of the department had met Ms Synon and the AAT's former president to complain about a case he adjudicated.
"I was staggered that a litigant before the tribunal had private access to the decision makers without the knowledge or consent of the other party," he said.
Mr Manetta said he was told his findings were inconsistent with other decision makers and was effectively removed as a result.
"It's not hard to see how corrosive that could be of the independence of the tribunal, its appearance of impartiality, it encourages members to monitor their track records and it squarely corrodes public confidence in the quality of administrative justice," he said.
In a statement from the AAT, Ms Synon denied she discussed specific cases — or Mr Manetta — at that meeting.
"Deputy president Synon confirms she and the former AAT president met with the secretary of the Department of Social Services as part of the tribunal's routine stakeholder engagement," the statement said.
"Specific cases and individual members were not discussed at this meeting.
"The tribunal is aware of matters raised by member Michael Manetta and these are currently being considered in consultation with deputy president Synon."
Political interference claims
Independent candidate for the South Australian seat of Boothby Jo Dyer, who first raised Mr Manetta's case, said the problem was due to political interference in the appointment of AAT members.
"What you see with what he's saying is the real implications of the Coalition's persistent stacking of the AAT with their mates," she told the ABC.
"Australians think they can trust government institutions like the AAT to give them fairness; instead they've got a corrupted and compromised process which is driven by ideology."
"People are not getting justice. They are not being looked after by members who are supposed to be there to uphold and protect the rule of law.
"The government is either unaware of or doesn't care about the separation of powers.
"They are trying to interfere with the statutorily protected independence of the decision makers within the AAT."
All appointments to AAT made 'on merit'
The Coalition gave the ABC a statement in response, which read:
"The government is committed to giving the AAT the resources it needs to provide high quality merits review with minimum delay.
"All appointments are made on merit. This means ensuring that the AAT is constituted by people who have a wide range of experiences and different records of service to our community.
"All appointments to the AAT meet the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 requirements for their class of appointment."
Mr Manetta himself was connected to the Liberals, running for the party in the seat of Torrens at the 2014 state election.
He said his complaint was not about politics, but about the level of qualifications of appointees to the tribunal.
"I think there's a problem with non-legally qualified people being appointed to the higher levels of what is a quintessentially legal institution," he said.
Mr Manetta said he had stopped hearing AAT matters until his concerns are resolved.
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