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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (26 September) . . Page.. 3664 ..

7

I am convinced that restricting representation has the real potential for injustice. Some individuals, due to lack of self-confidence, cultural attitudes or language problems, would be at a great disadvantage unless represented by another person, including a lawyer. Further, decision-makers and government officials would have the benefit of experience gained from previous appearances before the Tribunal or the Board and so have a distinct advantage over the usual applicant who would probably only appear before the Board or Tribunal on a single occasion. Accordingly, parties in the Land and Planning Division may be represented by another person, including a lawyer, without leave of the Tribunal; section 31 of the AAT Act will apply as it does now.

The Government expects that the Tribunal will exercise its powers to ensure that Land Act matters, and indeed any other matters, are conducted with as little formality and as much expedition as the circumstances of each case allows. In particular, the Government expects that the Tribunal will not permit the fact that a party is represented by a lawyer to give the proceedings an unduly adversarial character that would be out of keeping with the philosophy behind the Tribunal.

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