Welfare appeals and the ARC report to SSAT or not to SSAT: Is that the question?

Abstract

An Australian Administrative Review Council (ARC) report proposes that two-tier external merits review of social security appeals be reduced to a single tier of review (by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal). At the same time, income security payments for people of workforce age have been transformed from a status entitlement, into a form of contractual bargain (under "casemanagement"). This article reviews the performance of the two-tier appeal system against its British and other counterparts, and finds that it achieves best practice. It is argued that more radical reforms canvassed in a July 1996 British Green Paper are poorly conceived, and risk compromising the principle of external review of administrative action. Single tier review may also be inappropriate. On the other hand, the challenge posed by "contractual welfare" may lend support to ARC proposals to extend alternative dispute resolution avenues, though adjudication is to be preferred for review of traditional (non-contractual) forms of welfare provision.