Applicant S114-02 & Applicant S115-02 v MIMA

The applicants, identified as S114-02 and S115-02, sought judicial review of decisions made by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (MIMA) concerning their applications for protection visas. The dispute centred on the Minister's assessment of their claims for protection, which had been refused. The matter came before the High Court of Australia, with Gaudron and Kirby JJ presiding.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Minister, in assessing the applicants' claims for protection visas, had failed to afford them procedural fairness. Specifically, the applicants contended that the Minister had relied on adverse information not disclosed to them, thereby preventing them from responding to or refuting that information. This raised questions about the scope of the Minister's obligations under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and the principles of natural justice in the context of administrative decision-making concerning refugee status.

Gaudron and Kirby JJ found that the Minister had indeed breached the implied duty of procedural fairness. Their Honours reasoned that where an administrative decision-maker relies on adverse information that is not known to the applicant, and which is material to the outcome of the decision, the applicant must be given an opportunity to respond to that information. The failure to provide such an opportunity constitutes a denial of procedural fairness. The Court held that the Minister's reliance on undisclosed adverse information was a jurisdictional error, vitiating the decisions to refuse the protection visas.