AAT re-hiring draws ire

THE Administrative Appeals Tribunal has handed plum jobs with six-figure salaries to its former members who were dumped by the Turnbull Government.

Almost 50 decision-makers on visa cancellations were let go when their terms ended last year after they made a series of controversial calls to allow foreign criminals to stay in Australia.

But it can be revealed the AAT has rehired several axed members to work with its Immigration Assessment Authority, where they are paid more than $116,000 a year.

The AAT refused to say how many of the authority’s 37 reviewers had previously been government-appointed tribunal members, but it is understood it could be as many as 10.

“I’d be concerned if people who haven’t had their appointments renewed are then ending up in another office five doors down,” MP Jason Wood said.

An AAT spokeswoman defended the tribunal’s decision.