Expert Advisory Group to Guide Reform to Australia’s System of Administrative Review

The Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP
Media Release

The Albanese Government has today announced the Expert Advisory Group that will guide the landmark reform to Australia’s system of federal administrative review.

On 16 December 2022, the Australian Government announced that it would replace the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) with a new administrative review body. The Expert Advisory Group will provide advice on key policy and legislative issues in relation to this reform.

The Advisory Group will comprise:

  • Former High Court Justice, the Hon. Patrick Keane AC KC (Chair)
  • Ms Rachel Amamoo
  • Emeritus Professor Robin Creyke AO
  • Professor Anna Cody
  • Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum AO
  • Former Federal Court Justice, the Hon. Alan Robertson SC
  • Emeritus Professor Cheryl Saunders AO

Each member is highly qualified and brings a wealth of experience to the Advisory Group, which will guide the delivery of a new, trusted federal administrative review body that serves the interests of the Australian community.

Biographies of Expert Advisory Group members

The Hon. Patrick Keane AC KC (Chair)

Former High Court Justice; former Chief Justice of the Federal Court; former Justice of the Queensland Supreme Court; former Solicitor General of Queensland. Mr Keane was admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1977 and in 1988 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel. He was appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2015.

Ms Rachel Amamoo

Barrister, admitted to the Bar in 2019; named in Doyle’s Guide as a Leading Administrative and Public Law Barrister, junior counsel, Australia 2022.

Ms Amamoo practises in public law and commercial law. Since joining the Bar, she has appeared led and unled in the Federal Court, the Supreme Court and the County Court. Ms Amamoo has also appeared in the High Court.

Before joining the Bar, Ms Amamoo worked at the Victorian Government Solicitor's Office, where she was Special Counsel and for several years managed the Public Law Team.

She holds a Master of Public and International Law from Melbourne Law School and a Master of Laws from Columbia University. She graduated with first class honours in politics and in law from the University of Adelaide. 

Professor Anna Cody

Chair, Community Legal Centres Australia Board; Member, Legal Aid Commission NSW Board; Dean, School of Law, Western Sydney University; former Chair, Community Legal Centres NSW Board; former Director, Kingsford Legal Centre; former Deputy Chair, NSW Legal Assistance Forum.

Emeritus Professor Robin Creyke AO

Emeritus Professor at Australian National University; former Member of the Administrative Review Council of Australia; former Integrity Advisor to the Australian Taxation Office; former Senior Member of AAT; Senior Sessional Member of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal; member of the Administrative Law Committee of the Law Council of Australia and Chair of the National Customs Brokers Licensing Advisory Committee.

Professor Creyke has been writing about tribunals for over thirty years and has also undertaken empirical research into the impact of judicial review cases both within government and also for successful applicants and their lawyers.

Professor Emeritus Ron McCallum AO

Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney Law School; former Dean of Sydney Law School; former Member, AAT General and NDIS Division; former Deputy-Chair, Board of Directors of Vision Australia; Senior Australian of the Year (2011); former Chairperson, United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; former (and inaugural) president of the Australian Labour Law Association; former Asian regional vice-president, International Society for Labour and Social Security Law.

Professor McCallum is a highly respected industrial and discrimination lawyer and a prominent human rights advocate. In 1993, he became the first totally blind person appointed to a full professorship at any Australian university when he became Professor in Industrial Law at the University of Sydney.

The Hon. Alan Robertson SC

Former justice of the Federal Court of Australia (2011-2020); formerly a Deputy President of the AAT; formerly a Deputy President of the Australian Competition Tribunal; President of Australian Academy of Law; Deputy Chair of the NSW Electoral Commission; Honorary Professor, College of Law at the Australian National University.

Emeritus Professor Cheryl Saunders AO

Emeritus Professor at Melbourne Law School; former President of the Administrative Review Council of Australia. Professor Saunders has published widely in the areas of administrative law, constitutional law, constitutional reform, comparative constitutional law, and federation.

Professor Saunders is a President Emeritus of the International Association of Constitutional Law; a former member of the Victorian Judicial Remuneration Tribunal; a former President of the International Association of Centres for Federal Studies; and the founding Director of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies.