AHT15 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

AHT15, an applicant for a visa, sought judicial review of the decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal to reject his application for a visa. The Federal Circuit Court of Australia dismissed the proceeding without notice to the applicant. The first respondent, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, accepted that the Court had erred in dismissing the proceeding without notice. The applicant did not respond to proposed consent orders which involved allowing the appeal and remitting the matter to the FCCA.

The legal issues in the appeal concerned the correct procedure for judicial review of the decisions of the RRT. The Court was required to determine whether the FCCA erred in summarily dismissing the proceeding without notice to the applicant and, if so, whether the error was a jurisdictional one. The Court also needed to decide what orders should be made in the event the appeal was allowed.

The Court held that the error in dismissing the proceeding without notice was jurisdictional. It found that the FCCA should have given the applicant an opportunity to be heard before dismissing the proceeding. The Court also held that the first respondent should pay the applicant’s costs of the proceeding, including the application for leave to appeal and the appeal. The appeal was allowed, the orders made by the FCCA were set aside, and the matter was remitted to the FCCA for determination of the claims for relief.