Aju17 v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Aju17, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Minister for Immigration. The dispute concerned the Minister's refusal to grant Aju17 a visa. The matter came before Driver J of the Federal Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the Minister's decision to refuse the visa was affected by jurisdictional error. Specifically, the Court was required to consider whether the delegate of the Minister, in assessing Aju17's application, had failed to take into account a relevant consideration or had taken into account an irrelevant consideration, thereby vitiating the decision.

Driver J found that the delegate had indeed failed to consider a crucial piece of evidence that was relevant to the assessment of Aju17's claims. This failure constituted a jurisdictional error. The Court reasoned that the delegate's obligation was to consider all relevant information provided by the applicant, and the omission of this particular document meant that the decision was not made according to law. The legal principle applied was that a failure to consider a relevant consideration renders an administrative decision invalid.

Consequently, Driver J made orders setting aside the Minister's decision and remitting the matter to the Minister for redetermination according to law.