DISMISSAL UNDER S 101 OF THE ART ACT
9. Section 101 of the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth) (ART Act) provides that:
1 The Tribunal may, at any time, dismiss an application made to the Tribunal if the Tribunal is satisfied that the application:
- (a) is frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in substance; or
- (b) has no reasonable prospects of success; or
- (c) is otherwise an abuse of the processes of the Tribunal.
2 If the Tribunal dismisses an application (the substantive application) under subsection (1), the Tribunal may, on application by a party to the proceeding in relation to the substantive application or on its own initiative, order that the applicant for the substantive application must not, without leave of the Tribunal, make a subsequent application to the Tribunal of a specified kind or kinds.
3 The order has effect despite any other provision of this Act or any other Act.
10. This provision is relevantly identical to an equivalent power found in s 47 of the State Administrative Tribunal Act 2004 (WA) (SAT Act) and is slightly more expansive than the former s 42B of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) (repealed), which provided for a dismissal power where an application was frivolous or vexatious.
11. In Re Ellis and Director-General of the Department of Transport [2011] WASAT 142 (Ellis), Judge Sharp, Deputy President, summarised the principles governing the exercise of the dismissal power under s 47 of the SAT Act as follows:[1]
In Laurent and Commissioner of Police [2009] WASAT 254 (Laurent), Deputy President Judge Pritchard (as she then was) considered in detail the power of the Tribunal in relation to applications under s 47 of the SAT Act. From what her Honour said in Laurent, the Tribunal makes the following observations, which continue to reflect the Tribunal's position with regard to the powers of the Tribunal under s 47 of the SAT Act:
- 1 Section 47(1) of the SAT Act applies if the Tribunal believes that a proceeding is frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in substance or is being used for an improper purpose, or is otherwise an abuse of process. If s 47 of the SAT Act applies, the Tribunal may order under s 47(2) of the SAT Act that the proceeding be dismissed or struck out and make any appropriate orders. The Tribunal may exercise this power on its own initiative or on the application of a party.
- ↑ Ellis at [63]–[65].
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