International Tribunals Workshop
(April 2006)
Representatives from the Council on Tribunals, the Judicial Studies Board and the Department for Constitutional Affairs recently took part in an International Tribunals Workshop in Canberra, Australia on 5 April, comparing the tribunals systems in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The workshop was organised by Professor Robin Creyke of the Centre for International and Public Law at the Australian National University and was co-sponsored by the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration and the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The workshop included presentations from speakers from all the participating countries, several of whom are already well known to the Council, including Justice Garry Downes, President of the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal; Murray Chitra, Chair of the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services and Trish McConnell, Principal Adjudicator of the Tenancy Tribunal in New Zealand. The topics discussed included:
- An overview of the tribunal scene in each country
- Tribunals and policy
- Natural justice and tribunals
- How to achieve independence for tribunals
- Taking evidence and fact finding in tribunals, and
- Future directions for tribunals
A great deal of interest was expressed in the "quiet revolution" taking place in the UK tribunals system, described to the workshop by the Senior President of Tribunals, Lord Justice Carnwath. Other speakers from the UK included Professor Michael Adler, Professor Nick Wikeley and Penny Letts, a member of the Council on Tribunals.
A book of the collected papers presented at the Workshop is due to be published later in the year.