Bak18 & Ors v Minister for Home Affairs & Anor and; Bbi18 & Anor v Minister for Home Affairs

The applicants, Bak18 and others, and Bbi18 and others, sought judicial review of decisions made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) respectively, concerning their applications for protection visas. The Minister for Home Affairs and another party were the respondents. The proceedings were heard by Vasta J in the Federal Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the decisions of the AAT and the IAA were affected by jurisdictional error. The applicants contended that the respective tribunals had made errors in their decision-making processes that vitiated the lawfulness of their determinations regarding the protection visa applications.

Vasta J found that neither the AAT nor the IAA had committed jurisdictional error in their assessments. The Court's reasoning focused on whether the tribunals had acted within their legal powers and followed the correct procedures. Having determined that no such errors were established, the applications for judicial review were dismissed.