DJU20 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

In the case of DJU20 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the appellant, a national of Sri Lanka, sought to appeal a decision of the Federal Circuit Court which upheld a refusal of a protection visa. The central issue in this appeal was whether the primary judge erred in concluding that the absence of a statutory declaration from a prior invalid visa application did not materially affect the decision of the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA). The appellant argued that the omission constituted a breach of s 473CB(1)(c) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and thus rendered the decision of the IAA flawed.

The Federal Circuit Court examined whether the statutory declaration from the prior application was necessary for the IAA’s consideration and if its absence constituted a breach of the statutory requirement. The court found that while the statutory declaration from the prior application was not provided to the IAA, this omission did not breach s 473CB(1)(c) of the Act because the IAA's decision was based on the subsequent valid application supported by a later statutory declaration which included identical information. Moreover, even if there had been a breach, the court held that it did not lead to any jurisdictional error as the IAA's decision would not have differed with the prior statutory declaration.

The appeal was dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the Minister's costs. The court concluded that the primary judge correctly determined that the absence of the prior statutory declaration was not material to the IAA's decision.