Case Law Updates

Federal Court. In order for the Minister to personally made a decision under s 501CA(4), must he be "briefed with an accurate and sufficient summary of the matters raised by the representations or ... undertake the consideration of the representations personally"? Can it be inferred from the form of the reasons (i.e. circling 1 of 3 options) that they were the means by which the Minister was briefed, with the result that "the matters that are known to the Minister are only those matters expressed in the reasons"?

Federal Court. The Appellants made invalid protection visa applications and then validly applied for visas subclass 785. Is the question of whether the Appellants abandoned a claim for the purpose of the valid visa applications a matter of fact? Did they abandon that claim? Was MZYQZ v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2012] FCA 948 analogous to the facts of the present case?

Federal Court (FCA). Can a court grant mandamus by way of interlocutory relief? Does the FCA have jurisdiction or power to grant mandamus compelling...

Federal Court (Full Court). Is s 46(2) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) which, among other things, requires courts to "do all things necessary to ensure that the matter [the subject of a certificate under s 39B(2)] is not disclosed to any person other than a member of the court as constituted for the purposes of the [judicial review] proceeding" brought under s 44, constitutionally valid?

Federal Court (Full Court). Did the Tribunal have the power, in reviewing a refusal to grant the Respondent a SHEV, to determine whether the Minister had made a jurisdictional error in granting him a temporary safe haven visa under s 195A? Is it an implied condition that the state of mind called for by s 195A, namely that the Minister thinks that it is in the public interest to grant the visa, be formed on the basis of a correct understanding of the law?

Federal Court (FCA). Is s 23 of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) a conferral of power, not jurisdiction? Does the FCA have the power to grant an injunction in an appropriate case in aid of a statutory right?

Federal Court.The OMARA cancelled the Respondent's registration as a migration agent under s 303(1)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). The Respondent then sought review by the Tribunal, pursuant to s 306. Did the Tribunal have power under s 311A to bar the Respondent from being a registered migration agent, in circumstances where the decision under review had been made under s 303(1)(a)?

Federal Court. When a single judge of the FCA disagrees with previous decisions of single judges of the FCA, is the question whether those previous decisions should be followed out of comity, rather than whether they are "plainly wrong"? Is a translation provided to the IAA, but not to a delegate, of a document that was before the delegate "new information" for the purpose of s 473DC of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)?

Federal Court. Minister found that child pornography offences for which Applicant was convicted were "offences against vulnerable member of the community". Was the Minister referring to members of the Australian community, despite the fact the location of the children involved was unknown? When deciding under s 501CA(4) whether to revoke the mandatory cancellation of a visa, was Minister required to consider that Applicant also held at the same time another visa that would be cancelled by operation of s 501F(3)?

Federal Court. Can it be said that "information about conditions in a specific country (usually called “country information”) may include information about an identified or reasonably identifiable individual" and therefore that country information may include "personal information" for the purposes of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)?