Attorney-General George Brandis has cleared the decks of the troublesome Administrative Appeals Tribunal, making more than 60 appointments including several people with Liberal Party links.
In recent months the tribunal has been publicly lambasted by senior government ministers, who have questioned the appropriateness of its decisions, particularly on immigration and visa matters.
![Attorney-General George Brandis has cleared out the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170630081121im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/c/8/s/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx071l.png/1498781158348.jpg)
The job of the independent tribunal is to review administrative decisions, usually made by government departments, on their merits.
Senator Brandis, who made the announcement while in Canada for a cyber-security forum with Five Eyes allies, said more than half of the appointments were members whose terms were renewed.
That leaves about 30 former members who have been axed, including Miriam Holmes, a senior member who controversially overturned a decision to deport taxi driver Jagdeep Singh after he was convicted for sexual assault. Ms Holmes' term on the tribunal expires on June 30.
Among the new appointees is Hollie Hughes, a staffer to former Liberal senator Bill Heffernan who ran in sixth place on the Liberal Senate ticket in NSW last year, after nearly toppling minister Concetta Fierrevanti-Wells for a winnable position.
Ann Brandon-Baker, a former chief-of-staff to Scott Morrison, was promoted from a part-time member to a senior full-time member.
Among those reappointed were Helena Claringbold, a former staffer to Tony Abbott when he was prime minister, and Nicholas McGowan, who contested the seat of Jagajaga for the Liberals in 2013. Their terms were due to expire on Friday.
Senator Brandis plucked David Thomas from the Queensland Supreme Court to take over as AAT president, and also appointed him a judge on the Federal Court.
"Justice Thomas' experience and qualifications make him the right person to lead Australia's merits review tribunal," Senator Brandis said.
The AAT has been attacked over several decisions, including the Singh case and a separate matter where "fake" Iranian refugees who took holidays back to Iran were allowed to keep their protection visas. In both cases, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton later overruled the AAT, as he is allowed to do under the law.
Mr Dutton has labelled some of the AAT's decisions "infuriating", and last month said tribunal members were out of line with community expectations and should be losing sleep over their rulings.
"People who believe that they're above the law, above scrutiny by the public - I think should be the ones that shouldn't rest too well at night," he told Sydney radio station 2GB.
"If people are deciding matters and they aren't meeting community expectations then I don't see why people shouldn't face scrutiny over that."
Controversy over appointments to the AAT is not new, with both Labor and the Coalition attacked for so-called "political appointments" in the past.
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