Contest a Commonwealth decision at the Administrative Review Tribunal

The largest queue in this database, feeding on the two largest caseloads in it. Recorded as its own process because both NDIS and migration end here, and because a backlog this size is a measurement of upstream decision quality rather than of tribunal capacity.

reviewA merits review application in the NDIS or migration jurisdiction skeleton compare across jurisdictions

This is a structural skeleton, not a measured process. The steps, the authorities and the sequence are researched from this jurisdiction's published requirements and are broadly right. The durations are a uniform template applied across all jurisdictions, so the differences between them on the comparison page are mostly an artefact of that template rather than evidence about Australia. Do not quote the day counts. Replacing them with sourced figures for even one jurisdiction would make this page genuinely useful.

524 days elapsed
longest dependent chain

6 discrete steps
across 1 bodies

86% waiting on availability
scheduling or queue, not assessment

0 days saved by concurrency
vs. 524 if run end-to-end

Where the time goes

Critical-path days only. Steps that run alongside others are real work but do not lengthen the process, so counting them here would overstate the prize.

queue	330d	Waiting behind unrelated work in a backlog.
scheduling	120d	Waiting for a person or committee to become available.
assessment	60d	Someone is genuinely evaluating the merits.
applicant	14d	Waiting on the applicant to supply or fix something.

450 of 524 elapsed days are spent waiting for a person or a meeting rather than for a judgement to be formed. Removing that time changes no assessment standard and lowers no bar -- it is the cost of scheduling alone.

The process, step by step

Applies when: A person seeks merits review of a reviewable Commonwealth decision after internal review.

#	Step	Who	Why it waits	Clock	Typical	Basis
1	Internal review by the original decision-maker appeal The agency reviews its own decision. Generally a precondition to tribunal review.	—	queue	—	90 estimate	—
2	Lodge the application application after Internal review by the original decision-maker 420d slack	Administrative Review Tribunal	applicant	—	14 estimate	—
3	Wait for allocation and case management assessment The application waits behind the existing caseload. after Lodge the application 180d slack	Administrative Review Tribunal	queue	—	240 reported	—
4	Case conference and attempted resolution assessment after Wait for allocation and case management 120d slack	Administrative Review Tribunal	scheduling	—	60 estimate	—
5	Hearing assessment after Case conference and attempted resolution 60d slack	Administrative Review Tribunal	scheduling	—	60 estimate	—
6	Decision decision The tribunal affirms, varies, sets aside or remits the decision. after Hearing	Administrative Review Tribunal	assessment	—	60 estimate	—

on the critical path scheduling/queue = delay not caused by the assessment itself

Machine-flagged questions

These are produced automatically from the dependency graph. They are questions for a practitioner, not findings. Each one needs a person who has run this process to say whether the constraint is real.

The same body asked more than once

art (assessment) appears at Wait for allocation and case management, Case conference and attempted resolution, Hearing. Could these be a single sign-off?

Proposed changes

Empty the tribunal from the top, not the bottom remove ~450d
In 2025-26, 64 per cent of NDIS cases before the Administrative Review Tribunal resulted in a changed outcome. A review body that alters two thirds of the decisions it examines is not a backlog to be cleared. It is an instrument measuring the quality of the decision being reviewed.

Sources

Administrative Review Tribunal, published statistics and processing times: 130,983 applications on hand at 31 May 2026; more than 77,000 received in the reporting year; 43 per cent finalised within 12 months; median finalisation time risen from 45 weeks five years ago
Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth), commenced 14 October 2024
ABC News, 'Fears NDIS tribunal delays will worsen as federal government tightens scheme', 2 August 2026

Something wrong here?

This page is wrong in some way -- every page like it is. If you have run this process, the most useful thing you can do is tell us which step took longer than we say and why. Edit data/processes/au-administrative-review.toml and open a pull request, or send us the correction.