Injured workers who are dissatisfied with a decision by an independent review officer, related to their Comcare claim (for example, reducing or terminating benefits or rejected claims), can apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (“AAT”) to have the decision reviewed. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal is not a Court, it is an Administrative Decisions Tribunal. In this article, we look at the primary differences between the AAT and a Court and address the risk injured workers take if they attempt to represent themselves in the AAT.
How the Administrative Appeals Tribunal operates
Probably the most important, and I would suggest informative observation to make in attempting to explain the difference, is that the Tribunal Members (not Judges) hearing cases in the AAT, are concerned about the ‘merits' of the decision which the Applicant (in the case of Comcare claims, the injured worker) is unhappy about. These are usually decisions to stop paying compensation benefits or
