Best Practice Guide to Tribunal Independence in Appointments

This Guide is intended to inform, educate and raise awareness about  appointment and reappointment processes for tribunal members. Based on research and consultation with stakeholders, the Guide proposes principles and best practice in appointments to ensure tribunal independence. The Council hopes that the Guide will assist ministers and tribunal Heads in developing processes for the appointment of tribunal members, and that governments will consider the Guide when establishing new tribunals, or when reviewing or amending tribunal legislation. The principles may assist in evaluating actual practices and legislative provisions, and in measuring progress towards excellence in appointment processes.

The Guide has been prepared following a process of reviewing the governing legislation, practices and procedures of Australian and New Zealand tribunals detailed in the Council’s Best Practice Guide to Tribunal Independence in Appointments Discussion Paper (May 2015). The Council was greatly assisted by the thoughtful submissions it received in response to the widely-circulated Discussion Paper.

Please click here to download a PDF of ‘Tribunal Independence in Appointments – A Best Practice Guide’  August 2016