The Australian Law Reform Commission’s report, Without Fear or Favour: Judicial Impartiality and the Law on Bias, tabled in federal parliament yesterday makes some important recommendations on appointments of judicial officers and the importance of diversity in that process, which should be road tested in the context of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) because that quasi-judicial tribunal has had its perceived objectivity undermined by years of abuse of Coalition government which used it as a vehicle for rewarding its political friends. (more…)