Federal Court. Did s 500(6H) "preclude the Tribunal from considering information which is not presented by, or on behalf of an applicant, including information that arises from cross-examination or answers given in response to questions put by the Tribunal"? Does s 500(6H) have the effect that oral evidence, which may be given in support of a review applicant’s case cannot "depar[t] in a substantive way from the content of the written statements"?
Some of the questions to the Full Court of the Federal Court (FCAFC) were as follows:
Question 1: Did s 500(6H) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) "preclude the Tribunal from considering information which is not presented by, or on behalf of an applicant, including information that arises from cross-examination or answers given in response to questions put by the Tribunal"?
Question 2: Does s 500(6H) have the effect that oral evidence, which may be given in support of a review applicant’s case cannot "depar[t] in a substantive way from the content of the written statements"?
Question 3: Does the Tribunal have "at its disposal the power to elicit for itself information which an applicant cannot themselves put forward by force of s 500(6H)"?
Question 4: If the answer to Question 3 is 'yes', does the fact that the Tribunal has at its disposal that power "render it legally unreasonable (or otherwise illogical or erroneous) for the Tribunal not to exercise that power"?
The FCAFC answered those questions as follows: