Attorney-General
Minister for Emergency Management
Special Minister of State
Minister for the Public Service and Integrity
The Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP
Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Minister for Disability Reform
The Hon Jenny Macklin MP
Joint Media Release
Improved access to justice for DisabilityCare
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC today appointed four new members to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to hear National Disability Insurance Scheme matters.
The AAT has power to examine a wide range of decisions by DisabilityCare Australia, including who is able to participate in the NDIS and what types of support are provided to NDIS participants.
I congratulate all appointees and look forward to the contribution each will make to administrative justice in their new roles, Mr Dreyfus said.
The new members have been appointed in each of the DisabilityCare Australia launch states:
- Professor Ronald McCallum AO in NSW
- Ms Lynne Coulson Barr in Victoria
- Ms Sandra Taglieri in Tasmania, and
- Mr Ian Thompson in South Australia.
The Minister for Disability Reform Jenny Macklin said the appointments will help ensure that reviews will be conducted by people with expertise and understanding of needs of people with disability, their families and their carers.
These new members of the AAT have direct experience in working with people with disability, their families and their carers, Ms Macklin said.
To further support the AATs role in providing independent merits review of decisions made by DisabilityCare Australia, 17 existing AAT members have been assigned to hear NDIS matters.
Access to justice will also be improved, with the Australian Government announcing a waiver of application fees to the AAT for DisabilityCare participants and applicants.
The fee waiver will remove a financial barrier for DisabilityCare participants and applicants who are seeking a review of administrative decisions made by DisabilityCare Australia, Mr Dreyfus said.
The four new appointments and fee waiver build on the work already done to establish a specialised division within the AAT, and will streamline processes to cater to DisabilityCare participants and applicants.
These appointments were decided by Government two weeks ago and have been announced following Executive Council decision, prior to the issue of writs for the election.
Biographical information on each of the appointees follows below.
MONDAY, 5 AUGUST 2013
Professor Ronald McCallum AO
Professor McCallum is currently Professor Emeritus, University of Sydney and a Consultant with HWL Ebsworth Lawyers. He is an inaugural member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and served as its Chairperson from February 2010 to April 2013. Professor McCallum was Dean of Law at Sydney University from 2002 to 2007, and Blake Dawson Waldron Professor in Industrial Law from 1993 to 2007. He previously held several appointments at Monash University including Lecturer in Law 1974 to 1980, Senior Lecturer in Law from 1981 to 1989, and Associate Professor in Law from 1990 to 1992. He has published numerous academic books and articles, primarily on employment law and has received numerous awards, including Senior Australian of the Year in 2011 and Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to tertiary education, industrial relations advice to governments, assistance to visually impaired persons and for social justice.
Ms Lynne Coulson Barr
Lynne Coulson Barr has been the Deputy Commissioner of the Disability Services Commissioner in Victoria since its establishment as an independent statutory complaints body in July 2007. Ms Coulson Barr was formerly the President of the Victorian Intellectual Disability Review Panel from August 2004 to June 2007, having served as a sessional member of this panel since 1999. This panel reviewed statutory decisions about eligibility for services and the content of individual service plans. Ms Coulson Barr has also worked as a member of various state and federal tribunal and statutory bodies, including current sessional member roles on the Victorian Mental Health Review Board since 2003, the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal since 2005 and the Victorian Suitability Panel since 2007. Other tribunal and board appointments include the Social Security Appeals Tribunals from 1997 to 2007, the Accreditation Decisions Review Committee from 2000 to 2011, the Victorian Institute of Teaching from 2003 to 2006 and the Victorian Multiple and Complex Needs Panel from 2007 to 2009.
Ms Sandra Taglieri
Sandra Taglieri is a barrister specialising in injury compensation law, personal injuries damages, administrative law, anti-discrimination, coronial, insurance, industrial and civil law generally. Ms Taglieri is also a sessional member on the Guardianship and Administration Board. Prior to commencing practice at the Independent Bar in 2009, Ms Taglieri was a partner at Phillips Taglieri, Barristers and Solicitors specialising in personal injury litigation. She has also worked as a lawyer in other areas, including criminal, family and commercial law. Ms Taglieri has been a member of the Supreme Court Rules Committee since 2011, a member of the Legislative Review Anomaly Committee of the WorkCover Board of Tasmania since 2007, a lecturer in industrial law at the Legal Practice Course of the University of Tasmania since 2009 and was a trustee of a charitable fund established to assist miners affected by the Beaconsfield Mine disaster in 2006.
Mr Ian Thompson
Ian Thompson has been the Director of Governance and People at Novita Childrens Services since 2008. He was formerly Senior Lawyer for the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry from 2005 to 2008. Mr Thompson worked in the management of services to people with intellectual disabilities as Executive Manager and Senior Social Worker at Minda Inc from 1996 to 2005. Mr Thompson was previously the Director of Law Claims at the Law Society of South Australia from 1992 to 1995, and a Senior Partner at Ward & Partners, practising in a range of areas, including child protection, criminal law, family law, litigation and insurance from 1978 to 1990. Mr Thompson has worked on boards of non-government agencies for homeless, young people and is a former chair of the SA Council of Social Services.
