Adhikaree v Minister for Immigration

Adhikaree (the applicant) sought judicial review of a decision made by the Migration Review Tribunal (the Tribunal). The applicant had applied for an employer nomination visa, and the Tribunal had affirmed the decision to refuse that visa. The core of the applicant's challenge was an allegation that the Tribunal's decision was affected by jurisdictional error due to a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the Tribunal's decision was vitiated by jurisdictional error, specifically on the grounds of apprehended bias. This required the Court to consider whether a reasonable person, in possession of the relevant facts, would apprehend that the Tribunal might not bring an impartial mind to the decision-making process.

Justice Cameron found that the applicant had not established a reasonable apprehension of bias. The Court applied the well-established test for apprehended bias, which requires an examination of the circumstances from the perspective of a fair-minded lay observer. The Court concluded that the conduct and statements of the Tribunal member, when viewed objectively, did not give rise to a situation where there was a real possibility that the Tribunal was not, or might not be, impartial. Therefore, the applicant's claim of jurisdictional error based on bias failed.