DQU16 & Ors v Minister for Home Affairs & Anor

The applicants, DQU16 and others, sought judicial review of decisions made by the Minister for Home Affairs and the second respondent, concerning their immigration status. The dispute centred on the lawfulness of the Minister's decisions to refuse to revoke certain visa cancellations. The matter was heard by Gageler and Keane JJ of the High Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the Minister, in exercising the power under s 501(1) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) to refuse to revoke a visa cancellation, was bound by the principles of procedural fairness. Specifically, the applicants contended that they were entitled to be afforded procedural fairness before the Minister made a decision not to revoke their visa cancellations, arguing that such a decision was an exercise of a "personal non-compellable" power.

The Court held that the Minister's power under s 501(1) to refuse to revoke a visa cancellation was not an exercise of a "personal non-compellable" power in the sense that would attract procedural fairness obligations. Their Honours reasoned that the power to refuse revocation was a power to *maintain* the status quo, which was the cancellation of the visa, rather than a power to *alter* the status quo by cancelling the visa in the first instance. The Court distinguished this power from those that directly affect an individual's rights or interests in a way that would ordinarily attract procedural fairness. Consequently, the Court found that the Minister was not obliged to afford the applicants procedural fairness before making the decisions not to revoke their visa cancellations.