Arora and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

Arora and the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs concerned an application for citizenship by conferral. The applicant, Mr Arora, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Minister, which had refused his application on the grounds that he was not of good character as required by section 21(2)(h) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). The matter was heard by Deputy President B W Rayment Oam Kc P.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the "good character" requirement for citizenship by conferral. This involved an assessment of the applicant's past conduct and whether it demonstrated a lack of good character, thereby disqualifying him from obtaining Australian citizenship.

Deputy President Rayment found that the delegate's decision to refuse the application was affected by jurisdictional error. The delegate had failed to provide adequate reasons for the adverse character finding, particularly in relation to certain matters raised by the applicant. The Tribunal concluded that the delegate had not properly considered all relevant information and had not adequately explained how the applicant's conduct demonstrated a lack of good character. Consequently, the decision under review was set aside and remitted to the Minister for redetermination according to law.