The first edition of the Guide to Tribunal Practice (‘the Guide’), under the title Practice Manual for Tribunals, was produced by COAT in 2005 with financial support from the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General and the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration Inc. It was envisaged as an accessible, practical and reliable resource to assist members of tribunals to undertake their challenging work.

In the 20 years since the first edition, the Guide has developed into a more comprehensive and detailed work that addresses the increasing complexity of issues presenting in tribunal practice and the changing expectations of tribunal performance. For this sixth edition, it was decided to change the title of the work from ‘manual’ to ‘guide’. The term ‘manual’ carries the connotation of a set of prescriptive instructions. It was considered that ‘Guide’ better describes a work that clarifies the issues, principles and techniques from which tribunal members craft solutions to the issues they encounter in their practice.

The sixth edition builds upon the previous editions, and incorporates new material.

An electronic version of the Guide is available on this website. A hard copy of the Guide is provided to the head of each member tribunal of COAT. Additional copies can be purchased from COAT. See information below.

Please click here to download a PDF  format of the Sixth Edition of the Guide to Tribunal Practice.  Please note that you need to download the pdf and save it, then open your Adobe reader program and open the file  from there to be able to view and use the index. 

Any enquiries relating to access to the Guide or Best Practice Guides should be sent to info@coat.asn.au.