New Jurisdictions and changes to TASCAT

On 1 July 2025 the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Additional Jurisdictions) Act 2025 came into effect.

This legislation has conferred new jurisdictions on the TASCAT and made changes to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2020 (TASCAT Act). The changes to the TASCAT Act include new powers and a new legal structure for the Tribunal.

A brief summary of those changes is provided in this news item.  Details of the new jurisdictions and how to apply are provided in new content of this website on the pages of the relevant Stream.

Changes to TASCAT structure:

  • There are three new Streams that have been created in TASCAT.  In the General Division there is now the Administrative Stream and the Occupational and Disciplinary Stream.  In the Protective Division there is now the Community, Children and Families Stream.
  • There are two Streams in the General Division that have been merged into existing streams.  The Forestry Practices Stream has been merged into the Resource and Planning Stream.  The Health Practitioners Stream has been merged into the Occupational and Disciplinary Stream.

Changes to the TASCAT Act 2020 and new powers:

  • A range of amendments and new powers/requirements have been added to the TASCAT Act 2020.  Many of these amendments and powers have come from the Magistrates Court (Administrative Appeals Division) Act 2001 to enable the Tribunal to hear and determine new jurisdictions coming from the Administrative Appeals Division of the Court.
  • Section 86A has been added to the TASCAT Act 2020 in relation to the Tribunal giving reasons. This section is part of transferring matters from the Administrative Appeals Division to TASCAT as well as providing a general provision in the TASCAT Act about giving reasons and how it may do that.  It includes requirements for the contents of reasons and power for the Tribunal to provide reasons through the provision of transcripts or recordings of hearings.
  • Schedule 2, Part 8, Clause 9 of the TASCAT Act 2020 has been amended.  Clause 9(1), (2) and (3) have been removed from Part 8.  This has removed the provisions related to the 90-day timeframe for matters in the RPS.  Detailed information about this amendment and how the Tribunal will manage proceedings in the RPS is provided in the information sheets of that Stream.  The case management of matters in the General Division will be standardised as far as possible.

New Jurisdictions Summary:

  • The Property Agents Tribunal has now been amalgamated into TASCAT.  Proceedings under the Property Agents and Land Transactions Act 2016 are now housed in the new Occupational and Disciplinary Stream.
  • Review rights of decisions of the Police Review Board have been transferred from the Supreme Court to the TASCAT and will be housed in the new Occupational and Disciplinary Stream.
  • Sixty-Four (64) Acts with review rights previously with the Administrative Appeals Division of the Magistrates Court have been transferred to the TASCAT.  The review rights have been distributed across the different streams of the Tribunal with most of them in the new Administrative Stream.  Information is provided about these new review rights in the relevant Stream where they are housed.  This includes a table of all the Acts that allow proceedings to be lodged with TASCAT with information about how to make an application.
  • A new right of review to the TASCAT has been created in relation to decisions of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner to not accept a complaint (Section 65 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998).
  • A new right of review in relation to decisions of the Senior Practitioner under the new Disability Rights, Inclusion and Safeguarding Act 2024.

Other changes:

  • The Disability Rights, Inclusion and Safeguarding Act 2024 introduced changes to Restrictive Intervention applications.  The Tribunal has issued a news item about that specific change.
  • There are other amendments to the TASCAT Act and other legislation already within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.  A summary of these changes can be found in the Fact Sheet that was provided with the Bill when submitted to Parliament.
  • There has been a reduction in the number of forms for many of the Streams of the Tribunal.  Four generic forms are now used for most of the Tribunal Streams.  Information about these forms and how to complete them are provided on the relevant Stream webpages.
  • The Tribunal has brought together in one place the content about providing help and assistance on its website and provided new information to help self-represented parties in understanding the Tribunal and its processes.
  • On Wednesday 2 July 2025 the Tribunal's telephone system will change to reflect the changes to the streams.

The Magistrates Court (Administrative Appeals Division) and Property Agents Tribunal will give the TASCAT those files which now become matters before the TASCAT. The Tribunal will write to the parties to advise them of what will happen next with their matter shortly after 1 July 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact the registry for assistance.

Last updated: 1 July 2025