Should declaration set rules for future cases?

Federal Court (FCA). Is the FCA bound by the parties' agreement on the content of the law or facts? If the FCA declares that the Applicant is not an alien within the meaning of s 51(xix) of the Constitution, can the Applicant be removed from Australia under s 198 or detained under s 189 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)? Should the FCA, in the form of a declaration, "lay down a set of rules or prescriptions to be adopted in any potential (or actual) future litigation, which are intended to control the circumstances in which a non-citizen could successfully contend she or he is an Aboriginal Australian"?

Some of the questions to the Federal Court (FCA) were as follows:

Question 1: Is the FCA bound by the parties' agreement on the content of the law?

Question 2: If the FCA declares that the Applicant is not an alien within the meaning of s 51(xix) of the Constitution, can the Applicant be removed from Australia under s 198 or detained under s 189 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)?

Question 3: Can it be said that, although "the necessary evidence can be provided by way of an agreed statement of facts tendered pursuant to s 191 of the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth)", it "still remains for the Court to determine whether the facts are to be accepted as true and to determine what weight to attribute to that evidence"?

Question 4: Should the FCA, in the form of a declaration, "lay down a set of rules or prescriptions to be adopted in any potential (or actual) future litigation, which are intended to control the circumstances in which a non-citizen could successfully contend she or he is an Aboriginal Australian"?

The FCA answered those questions as follows:

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