Federal Court (Full Court). Is the vulnerability of a particular victim because of his or her characteristics such as physical stature relative to the characteristics of the offender a relevant vulnerability for the purposes of paras 8.1.1(1)(b)(ii) and 8.4(2)(c) of Direction 90?
Some of the questions to the Full Court of the Federal Court (FCAFC) were as follows:
Question 1: Can it be said that, "in circumstances where the respondent Minister does not oppose leave being granted, the appellant was unrepresented before the primary judge and was clearly in a substantially disadvantaged position as a consequence, and the appeal is extremely significant to the appellant because of the personal consequences for him of failing and being removed from the country, it would be in the interests of justice to allow a new point to be argued on the appeal in the event that the point had sufficient merit"?
Question 2: Is the vulnerability of a particular victim because of his or her characteristics such as physical stature relative to the characteristics of the offender a relevant vulnerability for the purposes of paras 8.1.1(1)(b)(ii) and 8.4(2)(c) of Direction 90?
The FCAFC answered those questions as follows: