Federal Court. Cl 8(3) of Direction 79 provides: "Both primary and other considerations may weigh in favour of, or against, refusal, cancellation of the visa, or whether or not to revoke a mandatory cancellation of a visa". Must decision-makers make express findings on each of those considerations? When considering under cl 14.5 the extent of impediments if Applicant were removed, AAT found it "appropriate to afford the expectations of the Australian community moderate weight in favour of non-revocation", which expectations had already been considered. Was AAT allowed to double-count those expectations?
The questions to the Federal Court (FCA) were as follows:
Question 1: Must decision-makers make express findings on each of the considerations in Direction No 79? In other words, must decision-makers expressly ascribe weight to each of the considerations in Direction No 79?
Question 2: When considering under cl 14.5 the extent of impediments if the Applicant were removed from Australia, the Tribunal found it "appropriate to afford the expectations of the Australian community moderate weight in favour of non-revocation", which considerations already been considered. Was the Tribunal allowed to double-count those expectations?
The FCA answered those questions as follows: