All18 v Minister for Home Affairs

All18 (the applicant) sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Home Affairs (the respondent) to refuse a protection visa. The applicant had also made an application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for a review of the refusal, but this application was dismissed interlocutorily. The applicant alleged jurisdictional error in the AAT's decision to dismiss their show cause application.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the AAT had committed jurisdictional error in dismissing the applicant's show cause application without providing the applicant with an opportunity to respond to the reasons for the proposed dismissal. The applicant contended that this failure amounted to a breach of procedural fairness, thereby constituting jurisdictional error.

Driver J found that the applicant did not have an arguable case of jurisdictional error. The Court reasoned that the applicant had been provided with a show cause notice, which outlined the AAT's preliminary view that the application for review was frivolous or vexatious. The applicant was given an opportunity to respond to this notice. The Court held that the AAT was not obliged to provide a further opportunity for the applicant to respond to the specific reasons that led the AAT to conclude that the applicant's response was insufficient, particularly where the applicant had not raised any new material or arguments.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.