Backlog at New Migration Tribunal: Critics Decry ‘Jobs for Mates’ as Agent Blames Stricter Visa Rules
A former Labor politician (who prefers not to be named) has criticised the Albanese government’s new Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), claiming it has failed to deliver on its promise of efficiency, particularly in the Migration and Refugee Division.
“Its efficiency and trust elements are lagging significantly, especially in the migration space,” the anonymous former MP said. “Backlogs are not improving; in fact, they’re increasing.”
The MP estimated unresolved cases within the division have reached between 90,000 and 100,000, despite the government’s pledge that the new body would be more effective than its predecessor, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
The ART was established to replace the long-standing AAT. Both are quasi-judicial bodies responsible for reviewing decisions made by federal departments on visa refusals, Centrelink disputes and tax objections. The body is intended to offer individuals a low-cost, accessible way to challenge government decisions without going to court.
As part of the AAT renewal, the Albanese government promised a more transparent and merit-based appointments process, along with additional staff, procedural reforms, and a new case management system.
But the former MP claimed ongoing “political influence” has undermined those reforms and accused Labor of continuing the same “jobs for mates” culture it once criticised the Coalition for.
“In some instances, people previously labelled as ‘political appointees’ were reappointed anyway, undermining the rationale for the mass dismissal,” the MP said, and added that the replacement of experienced tribunal members with inexperienced appointees had led to a “lack of expertise” and further delays in decision-making.
“They [the Labor government] dismissed every AAT member, even those doing good work. Experienced people were told to reapply, then rejected despite being ‘suitable’. New members, sometimes from outside the legal or tribunal system, have required significant training.”
In addition, the resulting delays have eroded access to justice for migrants: “If it [an appeal] takes three and a half years, is that really justice?”
But others working closely with affected students say the delays and uncertainty are not the result of the tribunal overhaul itself.
Eric Wu, a registered migration agent specialising in international student visas and education planning, said the day-to-day experience under the new ART has remained largely unchanged.
“In practice, the experience for students hasn’t changed dramatically,” he said. “The procedures, rights, and decision-making frameworks are still very similar.”
One minor improvement, he noted, is that students now have 28 days to lodge an appeal—up from 21 days under the AAT.
He said processing delays are not due to the tribunal’s structure or efficiency, but to the government’s broader immigration policy.
“The problem isn’t the ART or AAT,” he said: “It’s the large volume of refusal cases by the department because they want to reduce the number of onshore international students.”
In late 2023 and early 2024, the Albanese government introduced stricter immigration measures aimed at reducing net migration.
New rules included the introduction of a “Genuine Student requirement” to verify applicants’ study intentions, tougher English-language proficiency requirements, and closer scrutiny of applications from some countries.
The impact was immediate. Between June and September 2023, visa approval rates for Indian applicants dropped from 73 per cent to 42 per cent, approvals for Pakistani applicants fell from 64 per cent to just 30 per cent.
These refusals overwhelmed the appeals system. As of August 2024, student visa cases made up 71 per cent of all migration-related appeals lodged with ART.
