Chan v Nurses Board of Western Australia

Chan appealed to the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia against a decision of a single judge of that Court. The appeal concerned the validity of a decision made by the Nurses Board of Western Australia (the Board) to refuse to register Chan as a nurse. Chan had previously been registered as a nurse in Western Australia but her registration had lapsed. She sought to have her registration reinstated.

The central legal issue before the Full Court was whether the Board had acted unlawfully in refusing to register Chan. Specifically, the Court had to determine whether the Board's decision was vitiated by a failure to afford natural justice to Chan, and whether the Board had failed to consider relevant considerations or taken into account irrelevant considerations when making its decision. The Court also considered whether the Board's decision was affected by an error of law.

The Full Court found that the Board had failed to provide Chan with adequate notice of the specific concerns that led to the refusal of her registration and had not given her a sufficient opportunity to respond to those concerns. This failure amounted to a breach of the rules of natural justice. Furthermore, the Court held that the Board had improperly taken into account certain information that was not relevant to the assessment of Chan's current fitness to practice nursing, and had failed to give sufficient weight to evidence of her rehabilitation and current competence. The Court applied principles of administrative law concerning procedural fairness and the proper exercise of statutory power.

The Full Court allowed the appeal, set aside the decision of the Nurses Board of Western Australia, and remitted the matter to the Board for reconsideration according to law.