 A hearing is your opportunity to present your case to the AAT member who will decide your review. We usually hold a hearing unless your case has been resolved at an earlier stage or you and any other party agree we can decide the case by just looking at the documents. The hearing is relatively informal and will usually be heard by one member. In migration and refugee cases we might not hold a hearing if you didn't respond by the due date to a request from us for information. We will send you a letter with the date, time and location of the hearing. Hearings are usually held in person at the AAT's offices but it might be in a hearing room by phone or video conference. If you can't attend the hearing for any reason you must tell us as soon as possible. You should write to us, explain why you can't attend that day and send us any supporting documents such as a medical certificate. We only change the date if we're satisfied you have a very good reason. If you don't attend a scheduled hearing we might dismiss your application or make a decision without taking any further action to contact you. Before the day of the hearing you should read all the papers you have about the case and have them ready to bring to the hearing. Send us any further documents you want us to look at. Tell us if you need an interpreter. If we have agreed you can bring witnesses you should confirm they are available for the hearing. Write down the arguments you want to present. If the hearing is at an AAT office plan to get there well before the start time. There's information on our website about how to get to our offices. If the hearing is by phone make sure you're ready to receive the call at the start time. As well as you your representative if you have one and the AAT member other people might also be at the hearing. Depending on the type of case there might be a representative of the department that made the decision any other party to the review an interpreter if you've told us you need one and an AAT staff member assisting with the hearing. The department does not usually attend hearings in many centre link child support, migration and refugee cases. If you want to you can usually have a support person with you such as a family member or friend. The AAT member will usually explain what will happen during the hearing. The AAT member's name will be displayed in the hearing room. You can address them by their name for example Ms Smith or refer to them by their title senior member or member. Typically the member will briefly talk about the issues the AAT needs to decide. Then you'll be asked to give evidence and answer questions. If there is another party they'll be asked to speak. If a member thinks that a witness can provide relevant information they will be asked to give evidence and answer questions. Finally you and any other party will have a chance to give a brief summary of your main arguments. In many migration and refugee cases your representative can support you but will only be allowed to speak if the AAT member gives permission. In other cases your representative will be able to speak on your behalf. Most hearings take between one and three hours but some can take a whole day or more. If you need a short break at any time you can ask the AAT member. However it is up to the AAT member to decide whether to have a break. Hearings are recorded by the AAT. In most migration and refugee cases you can request a copy of the recording. In other cases you can ask for a transcript, a written record of what was said which you will have to pay for. You are not allowed to make your own recording of the hearing. The AAT member might tell you the decision at the end of the hearing. In many cases however the member will tell you that we'll send you the decision in writing at a later date. In some cases the member might ask you to give us further information before a decision can be made. You must give us the information by the due date. Hearings are held in private in some types of cases including many Centrelink child support and refugee cases. The AAT member must give permission for a support person to attend with you or for any other person to be present in the hearing room. In other cases hearings are open to the public. This means family members or friends can usually attend. Other people you don't know might also be present. Some AAT decisions are made publicly available including on the internet. However the law requires us to keep some information confidential in some types of decisions. For example information that might identify a person is usually removed if a child support or refugee decision is published. If we think there's a good reason the AAT can order that any hearing be held in private, some information not be made public or a decision not be published. You can ask the AAT not to make your information public by writing to the AAT before the hearing or talking to the AAT member about it at the hearing. You can find more information about the AAT by watching the other videos in this series. Visiting our website at.gov.au or phoning us on 1800 228 333. Please note that AAT staff can help you with questions you have about our processes but we cannot give you legal advice about your application.