As of 24 January 2026 the jurisdiction of the Disputes Tribunal is now $60,000. Notably there is no change to the appeal rights which under s50 Disputes Tribunals Act 1988 say:
(1)Any party to proceedings before the Tribunal may appeal to the District Court against an order made by the Tribunal under section 18(8) or section 46(2) or section 47(3)(b), or against the approval by the Tribunal of an agreed settlement under section 18(3), or against the variation of a term of an agreed settlement under section 47(3)(a), on the grounds that—
(a)the proceedings were conducted by the Referee; or
(b)an inquiry was carried out by an Investigator—
in a manner that was unfair to the appellant and prejudicially affected the result of the proceedings.
(2)Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), a Referee shall be deemed to have conducted the proceedings in a manner that was unfair to the appellant and prejudicially affected the result if—
(a)the Referee fails to have regard to any provision of any enactment that is brought to the attention of the Referee at the hearing; and
(b)as a result of that failure, the result of the proceedings is unfair to the appellant.
In 1988 when the original legislation was passed the jurisdiction of the DT was $5000 and the District Court jurisdiction was $12,000 but with appeal rights.
