Case Law Updates

Federal Court. Cl 485.222: "Each degree, diploma or trade qualification used to satisfy the Australian study requirement is closely related to the applicant’s nominated skilled occupation". Can it be said that, although the central consideration is the information in ANZSCO, "other skills which an applicant submits are relevant to the nominated occupation are not irrelevant to the Tribunal’s task"?

High Court. In assessing whether a statute which is silent on a topic was nevertheless intended by its drafter to be governed in a certain way on that topic, is it telling that the drafter had before it a different statute from another jurisdiction on the same topic and decided not to adopt it? Is there a "common law principle that, if complete relief is available in a proceeding on foot, it is prima facie vexatious and oppressive to commence a second proceeding dealing with the same controversy"? Must any Act be read as a harmonious whole?

Federal Court (FCA). An application was filed in the Federal Circuit Court (FCCA). The FCA agreed with the FCCA that the application was originally an abuse of process, as it was a "fabrication put in the name of" solicitors who had given no authority for their names to be used at that time. Was that abuse then cured on the basis that, subsequently, the Applicant and those same lawyers were happy to, and did, proceed with the application?

High Court. The AAT affirmed a refusal to grant the plaintiff a subclass 485 visa on the basis that his visa application had not been accompanied by evidence that the he had applied for a skills assessment. The plaintiff unsuccessfully applied to the FCCA for judicial review of the AAT's decision and unsuccessfully appealed to the FCA. The plaintiff eventually applied to the HCA for constitutional writ "on the basis of grounds rejected in the courts below". Was the application to the HCA in its original jurisdiction an abuse of process? Can cl 485.223 be satisfied by evidence provided to the decision-maker after the time of submitting the visa application?

High Court. Will there "generally be a realistic possibility that a decision-making process could have resulted in a different outcome if a party was denied an opportunity to present evidence or make submissions on an issue that required consideration"? When a Tribunal "errs by denying a party a reasonable opportunity to present their case", does reasonable conjecture "require demonstration of how that party might have taken advantage of that lost opportunity"?

Federal Court. Was AAT required to make a finding about the actual likelihood of sponsor and partner visa applicant being half-siblings? Is the combined effect of s 88C and s 88D of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) that a marriage that is valid under foreign law shall be recognised in Australia as valid, unless one of the exceptions in ss 88D(2) to (5) is engaged? While a marriage is prima facie valid pursuant to s 88G(1), do s 88D and s 23B(2) prevail? Does s 12 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) have the effect that s 88G(1) of the Marriage Act applies to an administrative decision concerning a partner visa application, despite s 353 of the Migration Act?

Federal Court: Minister was considering whether to cancel the Applicant's visa under s 501(2). Applicant stated that "there was targeted violence [in South Sudan] against the Nuer ethnic community of which the applicant is a member, including killings, abductions, unlawful detentions, deprivation of liberty, rape and sexual violence". Minister accepted that the Applicant "would face hardship arising from famine and civil war were he to return to South Sudan". Did the Minister engage with the Applicant's representations?

High Court. Is the reference to the act of refusal in s 48A of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) "simply to an historical fact, that has not been set aside in fact, regardless of its legal effect"? Does s 417 on its face confer a power of substitution only, instead of a power to set aside a decision of the Tribunal? Did the Assistant Minister's act of substitution in s 417(1) have the effect of setting aside the delegate's refusal decision?

Federal Court (Full Court). Can it be said that, in the content of determining whether there is another reason to revoke under s 501CA(4) the mandatory cancellation of a visa under s 501(3A), "the greater the degree of clarity in which a claim has been made and advanced for consideration, the greater may be the need for the Tribunal to consider the claim in clear terms"? Further, was Omar (first instance) wrongly decided?

Federal Court (Full Court): 'it will not always be illogical or irrational to place “some weight” on anonymous information'