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1. Introduction
   1. The Tribunals at a glance
   2. Contact officer
   3. Contact details
   4. About this report
   5. Aids to access information
   6. Statistics
   7. Copyright information
   8. Letter of transmittal
2. Contents
3. 1. Principal Member’s Report
4. 2. Registrar’s Report
5. 3. The role of the Tribunals
6. 4. Performance Report
7. 5. Management and accountability
8. 6. Financial statements
9. Appendices

Introduction: MRT - RRT Annual Report 2006-07

The Tribunals at a glance

The Migration Review Tribunal (the MRT) and the Refugee Review Tribunal (the RRT) provide final independent merits reviews of visa-related decisions made by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (the Minister) or by officers of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), acting as delegates of the Minister.

A visa is required by anyone who is not an Australian citizen and who wishes to travel to, or remain lawfully in, Australia.

The Tribunals are established under the Migration Act 1958 (the Migration Act). The Tribunals’ jurisdictions, powers and procedures are set out in the Migration Act and in the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations).

The Tribunals are required to deliver a mechanism of review that is fair, just, economical, informal and quick. Members and staff aim to meet government and community expectations in discharging their responsibilities.

We want to be known for:

• being highly competent Tribunals delivering fair, just and timely reviews
• our fairness and professionalism
• quality, integrity and consistency of decisions
• helping people understand our procedures
• listening and responding to feedback
• being courteous and respectful
• being open and accountable
• having a productive, supportive and safe workplace
• ensuring our Members and staff have an influence on our day to day operations
• meeting professional performance and ethical standards as set out in Member and staff Codes of Conduct
• our commitment to good client services as set out in our Service Charter

The Tribunals at a glance	MRT	RRT
Unless otherwise indicated, all information as at 30 June 2007 for the 2006-07 financial year.
Legislation	Migration Act 1958 Migration Regulations 1994
Established	1999	1993
Principal Member	Denis O’Brien
Registrar	John Lynch
Cases lodged	5,810	2,835
Cases decided	6,203	3,102
Cases on hand	3,534	582
% of primary decisions set aside	53%	21%
% of primary decisions affirmed	34%	71%
% of cases withdrawn or otherwise resolved	13%	8%
Average time taken to decide a case	37 weeks	11 weeks
% of decided cases where applicant represented	70%	44%
Number of hearings held (including cases not decided)	4,027	2,307
% of decided cases where hearing held	60%	69%
% of hearings where interpreter was required	69%	92%
Number of languages and dialects	80+
% of cases taken to judicial review	6%	50%
% of cases set aside on judicial review	26%	27%
Members (as at 1 July 2007)	94
Staff	272
Cost	$38.8m

Contact officer for this report

For all enquiries contact Rhys Jones, Deputy Registrar, Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal, GPO Box 1333, Sydney NSW 2001; or by telephoning (02) 9276 5060 or faxing (02) 9276 5099.

Contact details

The Tribunals have registries in Sydney and Melbourne, open from 9.00am to 4.30pm on working days. The Principal Registry address is GPO Box 1333, Sydney NSW 2001.

Applications for review may also be lodged at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal registries in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth:

National telephone enquiry number

For further information contact the Tribunals on their information line 1300 361 969. Local call charges apply from anywhere within Australia. Not available from mobile telephones.

Translating and Interpreting Service

To inquire about interpreting services for non-English speakers telephone 131 450 from anywhere in Australia 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Website

www.mrt-rrt.gov.au

E-mail

enquiries@mrt-rrt.gov.au

About this report

This report is on the operations of the Migration Review Tribunal and the Refugee Review Tribunal for the financial year 2006-07. The Tribunals are separately established under the Migration Act 1958, but are administratively amalgamated, and since 1 July 2006, have been prescribed as a single agency for the purpose of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.

When developing this Annual Report, we set out to meet our parliamentary reporting requirements, and to have careful regard to continuity from previous Annual Reports. We also set out to produce a report that is readable and useful to all those with an interest in the operations of the Tribunals.

The Annual Report is presented in 6 main parts:

1. Part 1 is a report by the Principal Member. It includes a review of the Tribunals’ performance, a summary of significant developments and an outlook for the next year.
2. Part 2 is a report by the Registrar. It provides a summary of significant corporate and organisational developments.
3. Part 3 is an overview of the Tribunals and describes how the Tribunals operate and the nature of cases that are dealt with by the Tribunals.
4. Part 4 contains the performance report. It includes a summary of overall performance results, a summary of financial resources and an overview of activity over the year, including case statistics.
5. Part 5 contains information on management, organisational and accountability issues.
6. Part 6 contains the Tribunals’ audited financial statements for the year.
7. The Appendices set out a range of additional information.

Aids to access information

The contents page is located here. A glossary of terms and abbreviations is located here. An index of compliance with the Requirements for Annual Reports for Departments, Executive Agencies and FMA Act bodies issued by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in June 2007 is located here.

Statistics

All statistics used in this report are of ‘cases’. Multiple applications for review are counted as a single case where the legislation provides that the applications for review can be combined, usually where members of a family unit have applied for the grant of visas at the same time.

Copyright information

© Commonwealth of Australia 2007

This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney General’s Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 or posted at www.ag.gov.au/cca.

• ISSN 1833-8518 (Print)
• ISSN 1834-2183 (Online)
• ISBN 0-9751135-8-5 (Print)
• ISBN 0-9751135-9-3 (Online)

Letter of transmittal

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