Delil Alexander (by his litigation guardian Berivan Alexander) v Minister for Home Affairs & Anor

The applicants, Delil Alexander (by his litigation guardian Berivan Alexander) and others, sought judicial review of decisions made by the Minister for Home Affairs and the Department of Home Affairs concerning their immigration status. The core of the dispute involved the lawfulness of the Minister's decision to refuse to revoke a decision to cancel the applicants' visas, and the subsequent detention of the applicants. The matter was heard by the High Court of Australia.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Minister's decision to refuse to revoke the visa cancellation was affected by jurisdictional error. Specifically, the Court considered whether the Minister had failed to exercise the power to revoke the cancellation in accordance with the requirements of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), particularly in relation to the assessment of whether the applicants were owed protection. A further issue was whether the continued detention of the applicants was lawful in light of the alleged jurisdictional error in the visa cancellation process.

The Court reasoned that the Minister's power to revoke a visa cancellation under s 501(3B) of the *Migration Act* was engaged only if the Minister was satisfied that the person did not pass the character test. In this instance, the Minister had not been satisfied that the applicants passed the character test, and therefore the power to revoke the cancellation was not enlivened. The Court held that the Minister's decision not to revoke the visa cancellations was not affected by jurisdictional error, as the Minister had correctly understood and applied the relevant provisions of the Act. Consequently, the detention of the applicants, which was predicated on their unlawful status, remained lawful.

The applications for judicial review were dismissed.