Anl17 v Minister for Immigration and Anor (No.2)

In *Anl17 v Minister for Immigration and Anor (No.2)*, the applicant sought remedies under s.476 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) concerning a decision by the Immigration Assessment Authority (the Authority) to affirm a delegate's refusal to grant a Safe Haven Enterprise visa. The matter came before Judge Manousaridis in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Authority had made a jurisdictional error by applying an unduly narrow interpretation of "exceptional circumstances" under s.473DD of the Act when considering new information. Specifically, the applicant argued that the Authority failed to consider whether this new information, if known by the original delegate, might have influenced the assessment of the applicant's claims, thereby taking an overly restrictive view of the statutory provision.

The court reasoned that the Authority's error, as identified in previous judgments such as *BVZ16 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection*, lay in its failure to consider relevant matters under s.473DD(b) when assessing whether exceptional circumstances justified considering the new information. This failure amounted to an unduly narrow interpretation of the term "exceptional circumstances."

Consequently, the court quashed the Authority's decision and remitted the matter for review according to law. The first respondent was ordered to pay the applicant's costs in the amount of $6,000.