CTG18 v Minister for Home Affairs

The applicant, CTG18, sought judicial review of a decision by the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) to decline to exercise its powers under section 473DC of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) in relation to their application for Safe Haven Enterprise visas. The dispute centred on whether the IAA's decision was unreasonable and whether it had failed to properly consider the applicants' case.

The primary legal issues before the Federal Court were whether the IAA acted unreasonably in declining to exercise its powers under s 473DC, whether the IAA was required to expressly refer to s 473DD(a) of the Act, and whether the IAA ought to have given the applicants the 'benefit of the doubt'. The applicants contended that the IAA had made a jurisdictional error in its assessment.

Justice Street found that the IAA's decision was not unreasonable. The Court held that the IAA had adequately considered the material before it and that there was no requirement for the IAA to expressly refer to s 473DD(a) of the Act, as the substance of that provision had been addressed in the IAA's reasoning. Furthermore, the Court determined that the 'benefit of the doubt' principle did not mandate a particular outcome in this instance. Consequently, no jurisdictional error was made out.

The amended application was dismissed.