Submission: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Statutory Review

The Tenants' Union of NSW and the network of Tenant Advocates who we train, resource and support have assisted tens of thousands of tenants in all predecessor Tribunals since the Residential Tenancies Tribunal in 1998. In our estimation we and advocates in our network have participated in approximately 30,000 cases in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. In these interactions we believe we have provided excellent service not only to our clients but to the Tribunal itself with professional conduct and expert analysis of the cases we assist in. We are a member of a number of the Tribunal’s consultative committees and value this interactive opportunity.

While we will offer opinion in this submission largely relating to the ways the Tribunal could improve its practice, we are keen to stress that overall we support the model of the Tribunal. We believe the model to be an effective one even where justice through the Tribunal is hampered by defects with the laws and systems it is asked to adjudicate over.

We look forward to continuing to working with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal registry and the Department of Justice to enhance the ways the civil justice system interacts with housing policy in NSW.