ARY16 v Minister for Immigration (No.2)

The applicant, ARY16, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration to refuse to exercise the Minister's non-compellable, unfettered discretion to intervene in the applicant's migration matters. The application was heard by Driver J in the Federal Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether it possessed jurisdiction to review the Minister's decision not to intervene. This involved considering the nature of the Minister's discretionary power and the scope of judicial review in relation to such powers.

Driver J held that the Minister's power to intervene under section 48B of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) is a non-compellable and unfettered discretion. His Honour reasoned that because the discretion is unfettered, it is not capable of being the subject of judicial review. The Court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the application for review.