CDM16 v Minister for Immigration & Anor

In the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Judge Driver considered the application of CDM16 (the applicant) for judicial review of a decision made by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (the first respondent) and the Department of Home Affairs (the second respondent). The applicant sought to challenge the refusal of their visa application.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the delegate of the Minister had properly considered and applied the relevant criteria under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and associated regulations in assessing the applicant's eligibility for the visa. Specifically, the Court was required to determine if the delegate's findings regarding the applicant's failure to satisfy certain character requirements were affected by jurisdictional error.

Judge Driver's reasoning focused on the principles of administrative law, particularly the requirement for decision-makers to undertake a proper consideration of all relevant evidence and to apply the law correctly. The Court examined the delegate's decision-making process to ascertain if there was any failure to take into account a relevant consideration, or the taking into account of an irrelevant consideration, or any other error that would render the decision invalid. The Court applied established principles regarding the scope of judicial review in migration matters, emphasizing that the review is not an appeal on the merits but a review for jurisdictional error.

The Court found that the delegate had made a jurisdictional error in their assessment of the applicant's character. Accordingly, the decision of the Minister was set aside, and the matter was remitted to the Minister for redetermination according to law.