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The State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) was established in Western Australia in 2005 as an independent body that makes and reviews a range of administrative decisions. Individuals, businesses, public officials and vocational boards can bring before the SAT many different types of applications related to civil, commercial and personal matters. These range from reviews of multimillion-dollar tax judgments and dog destruction orders to disciplinary proceedings, guardianship questions and town planning and compensation issues.
The SAT was established by the State Administrative Tribunal Act 2004 and the State Administrative Tribunal (Conferral of Jurisdiction) Amendment and Repeal Act 2004 (Conferral Act). The Conferral Act refers to more than 150 existing Acts of Parliament, known as enabling Acts. The enabling Acts give the SAT the jurisdiction to make decisions on specific matters.[1][2]
The SAT:
- aims to make the correct or preferable decision based on the merits of each application;
- is not a court and, therefore, strict rules of evidence do not apply;
- encourages the resolution of disputes through mediation;
- allows parties to be represented by a lawyer, a person with relevant experience or by themselves;
- holds hearings in public in most cases; and
- provides reasons for all decisions and publishes most of them on the website.
The SAT's objectives are set out in the State Administrative Tribunal Act 2004.
- ^ Blades, David W (April 2008), "A 'Court of a State': is the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia a 'Court of a State' for the purposes of the Australian Constitution?", Brief, 35 (3): 13–18, ISSN 0312-5831
- ^ de Villiers, Bertus (March 2014), "The state administrative tribunal of Western Australia - time to end the inquisitorial/accusatorial conundrum", University of Western Australia Law Review, 37 (2): 182–214, ISSN 0042-0328