Aaj20 v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Aaj20, sought judicial review of a decision by the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) to refuse their application for a protection visa. The applicant claimed to fear harm in Iran. The dispute arose after the IAA received details of an anonymous complaint made against the applicant to the Minister's Department, which were then provided to the IAA by the Secretary.

The central legal issues before Judge Driver were whether the IAA's knowledge of the anonymous complaint gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias, and whether the procedure followed by the IAA was otherwise unfair. Additionally, the court considered whether the Secretary breached section 473CB(1)(c) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) in providing the information to the IAA.

Judge Driver found no jurisdictional error. The court reasoned that the IAA had treated the subject matter of the complaint as irrelevant to its assessment of the protection visa application. Consequently, the mere knowledge of the complaint did not establish an apprehension of bias. The court also concluded that the procedure adopted by the IAA was fair and that there was no breach of section 473CB(1)(c) of the *Migration Act*. The application for judicial review was dismissed.