Ms Louise Loughlin:

We have a pathway in terms of recruitment for adjudicators. Adjudicators are required to have a certain set of qualifications and experience. The vast majority of adjudicators tend to be barristers so one would expect them to have considerable knowledge of the law and the Act. We also provide training to our panel members. In addition, they are held accountable to the RTB through a service-level agreement in terms of when they agree to undertake an adjudication and when they should produce the report and the timeliness of that. There is also provision under the Act for the RTB to send a case back to an adjudicator or tribunal when it is of the view that there is inconsistency with other decisions so that can also surface its way up to the RTB board. We have a number of measures within the Act and our own practices to monitor the conduct of panel members. That is not to say we could not do more. We can always do more and that is something we are considering.