Case Law Updates

High Court. Can it be said that "an unrevoked grant of special leave to appeal entitles an appellant to advance any ground of appeal on which special leave has been granted unless precluded by operation of law such as by waiver or estoppel"?

High Court (single Justice). Do the words 'benefits the Australian economy' in cl 132.227(2)(b) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) imply a significant benefit?

Federal Court (Full Court). By reason of s 82(2) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), the Appellant's ETA ceased to be in effect upon the grant of a subclass 600 visa. When the latter visa ceased to be in effect, was the ETA reactivated by operation of law?

Federal Court. Can the fact that a decision record is comprehensive, thoughtful and fully footnoted strongly indicate that an item of evidence not referred to in it was overlooked?

OMARA: [All expenses incurred for the [subclass 187] nomination application are the responsibility of the sponsor and cannot be transferred to the visa applicant"... "I am satisfied that the Agent’s text message conversation with [the complainant] was related to the facilitation of payments intended to be provided to the employer by the visa applicant for a nominated position. It is an offence under sections 245AR and 245AS of the Act to ask for, receive, offer to provide, or provide a benefit in return for the occurrence of a sponsorship related event".

Federal Court. Did the terrible pressures of time under which the Tribunal was obliged to make its review decision (the 84-day rule in s 500(6L(c)) provide a justification for the Tribunal having failed to take into account the best interests of minor children to be affected by its decision? Is the offence of failing to comply with a request made by the police to supply personal details, per se, contemplated by para 8.1.1(1)(b)(ii) of Direction 90?

Federal Court. If a judicial review applicant cannot afford to order the transcript of a Tribunal hearing, can they nevertheless file an affidavit to describe the evidence given at that hearing? Can the absence from otherwise detailed reasons of any reference to a submission or argument made to an administrative decision-maker indicate that it is unlikely that such decision-maker considered such submission or argument? In determining the materiality of an error, can a court assume that the administrative decision-maker approached the decision with a closed mind?

Federal Court. Is an address given on an incoming passenger card given for the purpose of s 52(3A) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)? Was it open to the Minister to treat an address given for the purpose of s 52(3A) as the "person's last residential address ... known to the Minister" within the meaning of r 2.55(3)(c) of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)?

Federal Court. The Full Court held in Thornton that a finding of guilt as a juvenile is effectively expunged for the purposes of considering pursuant to Direction 90 the nature and seriousness of a non-citizen’s offending. Is Thornton distinguishable if the Tribunal considers juvenile's conduct as “other serious conduct”, instead of as criminal conduct?

The provision of false information was irrelevant for the purposes of determining whether a passport was a bogus document under s 5(1) and thus whether a protection visa should be refused under s 91WA of the Migration Act 1958