Arhbal v Minister for Home Affairs

This matter concerned an application by Mr Arhbal against the Minister for Home Affairs. The dispute centred on whether the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) had properly exercised its discretion to disclose information to Mr Arhbal under section 376 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). Heffernan J of the Federal Court of Australia heard the application.

The legal issues before the court were whether the Tribunal understood the nature of its power to disclose information under section 376, and whether it had failed to consider exercising this discretion. Specifically, the court considered whether the Tribunal was permitted to make disclosure under section 359AA of the Act, and how this section interacted with the concept of "non-disclosable information" as defined in section 5 of the Act.

Heffernan J reasoned that the Tribunal had specifically acknowledged its power to disclose information under section 376. The court rejected the applicant's submission that the Tribunal misunderstood the breadth of this discretion, noting that the Tribunal had specifically referred to the power of disclosure. The court found that section 359AA provided a valid mechanism for disclosure contemplated by section 376(3)(b), and that the reference to "non-disclosable information" in section 359A did not preclude the application of section 359AA. The court distinguished the authority cited by the applicant, which concerned section 359A, from the present case which involved section 359AA. Therefore, the court concluded that an inference of failure to consider the discretion under section 376(3)(b) could not be drawn, as the Tribunal had adverted to the discretion and determined to apply the disclosure mechanism provided for in section 359AA.

The court was not satisfied that the applicant had established that the Tribunal failed to consider the exercise of its discretion to make disclosure under section 376(3)(b).