Akb18 v Minister for Home Affairs

The applicants sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which held it lacked jurisdiction to hear a merits review of a delegate of the Minister for Home Affairs' decision. The AAT's finding of no jurisdiction was based on the merits review application being lodged outside the prescribed 28-day period. The first applicant contended that the Department of Home Affairs had disregarded his preferred method of communication.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the AAT had committed a jurisdictional error in determining that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the merits review application due to the late lodgement. This required the Court to consider whether the notification of the delegate's decision was validly effected in accordance with section 494B of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), and whether the AAT correctly applied the relevant statutory provisions in assessing its jurisdiction.

Dowdy J found that the AAT had correctly had regard to the relevant statutory regime governing the notification of decisions and the time limits for lodging merits review applications. The Court determined that the notification of the delegate's decision to the applicant was made in accordance with section 494B of the *Migration Act*. Consequently, the AAT's conclusion that the merits review application was lodged out of time, and therefore that it lacked jurisdiction, was not a jurisdictional error. The application for judicial review was dismissed.