Letter · Administrative & Public Law
Letter before judicial review proceedings to a Commonwealth decision-maker (ADJR Act), with time-limit and genuine steps record
Pre-action letter to a Commonwealth agency identifying the decision, the errors alleged and the remedy sought, asking it to withdraw or remake the decision and preserve the record, with the ADJR 28-day period and the genuine steps statement in mind.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- Commonwealth, Australia
- AI use
- Red Keep AI out of the decisive steps. A lawyer does the work.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 4 authorities it cites, for Commonwealth and Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a client wants to challenge a Commonwealth administrative decision in the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court (Division 2) under the ADJR Act and there is time to write first. If the 28-day period is about to expire, file first and write afterwards. Check first whether merits review is available, because the court may decline relief where another avenue exists.
Used for these tasks
- Build a review-rights and time-limit table from the decision letter
- Draft a judicial-review grounds outline from the decision and the record
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
The lawyer writes the grounds and the demands; AI may build the chronology and the time-limit table from the decision letter and check names, dates and file references.
AI may
- Build a dated chronology from the decision, the reasons and the correspondence, for the lawyer to check
- Calculate the candidate 28-day dates under s 11(3) from the dates the decision and any reasons were furnished, for the lawyer to confirm
- Check the decision-maker’s name, the statutory provision and the file references against the decision letter
AI must not
- Must not identify or write the grounds of review, or characterise the decision as unlawful
- Must not decide whether the decision is one to which the ADJR Act applies, or whether merits review is the better course
- Must not send the letter or contact the agency
The lawyer checks
- The decision is a decision of an administrative character made under an enactment, and is not excluded from the ADJR Act
- The 28-day period has been calculated from the right event (decision with reasons, separate reasons, or a s 13 request) and diarised, and filing will not wait for a reply if time is short
- Merits review options and any statutory bar have been considered, given s 10(2)(b)
- The letter records steps that can be described in a genuine steps statement, unless the proceedings are excluded
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Administrative & Public Law
- Freedom of information access application (Commonwealth, with NSW and NZ variants and review follow-ups)
- Application for extension of time to apply for review (Administrative Review Tribunal): preparation guide
- FOI third-party consultation notice: business information or personal information (FOI Act ss 27 and 27A)
- Request for a stay order (Administrative Review Tribunal): when a stay is available and how to ask for one
- Request for a statement of reasons for an administrative decision, with reasons-deficiency table
- Agency submission in response to a Commonwealth Ombudsman draft report or proposed critical opinions (Ombudsman Act s 8(5))
- Request for reasons and review of an automated or AI-assisted government decision
- Request to issue a summons (Administrative Review Tribunal): give evidence, produce documents, or both
- Application to the Administrative Review Tribunal for review: completion guide (including the Generative AI Practice Direction)
- Complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman: preparation guide and complaint summary
- Agency AI transparency statement under the DTA standard: advice note and template for government clients
All precedents for Administrative & Public Law · Tasks and AI use in this area