Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997

An administrator whose administratively reviewable decision is the subject of an application for review to the Tribunal must, within 28 days after receiving notice of the application, lodge with the Tribunal:

a copy of any statement of reasons given to the applicant under section 49 (or, if no such statement was given to the applicant, a statement of reasons setting out the matters referred to in section 49 (3)), and

a copy of any statement of reasons for a decision in an internal review conducted in respect of the administratively reviewable decision, and

a copy of every document or part of a document that is in the possession, or under the control, of the administrator that the administrator considers to be relevant to the determination of the application by the Tribunal.

If the applicant has not been given a statement of reasons under section 49, the Tribunal may direct that a copy of the statement of reasons lodged with the Tribunal under subsection (1) (a) be given to the applicant within such period or periods as the Tribunal directs.

If the Tribunal or President considers that a party to the proceedings would or might suffer hardship if the period of 28 days provided by subsection (1) is not shortened or extended, the Tribunal or President may, at the request of the party, make an order directing that the copies referred to in that subsection be lodged with the Tribunal within such shorter or extended period as is specified in the order.

If the Tribunal or President considers that other particular documents (or that other documents included in a particular class of documents) may be relevant to the determination of the application, it may cause a notice in writing to be served on the administrator:

stating that the Tribunal or President is of that opinion, and

directing the administrator concerned to lodge with the Tribunal, before a date specified in the notice, a copy of each of those other documents that is in the possession, or under the control, of the administrator.

The principal registrar of the Tribunal is to grant reasonable access to the applicant in the proceedings to any copy of a document lodged under this section by an administrator. Reasonable access includes, but is not limited to, enabling the applicant to make a photocopy of a document during ordinary business hours.

If a party to proceedings before the Tribunal seeks a summons under the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 against an administrator for the production of any document and a copy of that document has been lodged with the Tribunal under subsection (1) or (4), the Tribunal may (on such conditions as it considers appropriate) direct the principal registrar of the Tribunal to grant the party access to its copy of the document instead of issuing a summons if access to the document could lawfully be required by the issue of a summons.

Nothing in this section requires the disclosure of, or the granting of access to, any document (or a copy of a document) in contravention of any of the following:

an order made under section 59 (Objections to lodgment),

an order made under section 64 (Tribunal may restrict disclosures concerning procedures) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013,

section 66 (Effect of Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009) or section 67 (Privileged documents) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (as applied by section 67 of this Act).

For the purposes of this section, a reference to a document in the possession of an administrator includes a reference to a document to which the administrator has an immediate right of access.