AAT abolishment first step in ridding public service of cronyism, says Grattan Institute

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Removing the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) is a good place to start addressing the “jobs for mates” culture, says Grattan Institute’s Kate Griffiths.

“When we did our work on the politicisation of public appointments, we were looking across a whole range of different bodies,” said Griffiths, who is the institute’s deputy program director, budgets & government. “The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was certainly one of the most troubling political stacking; that was particularly evident on the AAT.

“It’s worse, in a way, because it’s supposed to be an independent body that actually reviews government decisions.”

Following accusations of cronyism, the government announced on Friday afternoon that the AAT would be replaced by a new administrative review body.

As reported by The Mandarin, attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said the tribunal’s standing had been “irreversibly damaged as a result of the former government’s actions over the last nine years”.

Earlier this year, a Grattan Institute report found political appointments to the AAT had grown in the past five years.

While saying the decision to abolish the tribunal was not surprising, Griffiths believes the government should look into establishing independent, merit-based appointment processes for all public sector appointments.

A holistic approach should be possible, instead of addressing the “jobs for mates” culture body by body.

“The government should be looking at all public appointments, particularly paid public appointments, and there are thousands of them,” Griffiths said.

“That’s a big task, but they don’t have to be tackled one by one, they could actually be tackled across the board.

“Things like government business boards, the board members are appointed by the relevant minister, without a proper transparent process.”

The key point Griffiths emphasised was an open, transparent and merit-based appointment process across the sector.

“The first place to start is with the most powerful and most prestigious appointments.

“They’re typically the best paid, and they have the greatest potential to influence public policy and public decisions.”

Grattan Institute is also advocating for the establishment of a public appointments commissioner, who would assemble the panels that oversee public sector appointments and report to parliament.

“If there are questions down the track about a particular appointment, and it looks a bit cozy and a bit suspicious, that public appointments commissioner can be questioned by parliament,” Griffiths said.

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