EGJ18 and Ors v Minister for Home Affairs and Anor

In the Federal Court of Australia, the applicants, identified as EGJ18 and others, brought proceedings against the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs. The core of the dispute concerned the lawfulness of decisions made by the Minister to refuse to grant visas to the applicants, who were described as non-citizens. The applicants sought judicial review of these decisions.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the Minister's decisions to refuse the grant of visas were vitiated by jurisdictional error. Specifically, the applicants contended that the Minister failed to consider relevant considerations and took into account irrelevant considerations when making these decisions, thereby breaching the requirements of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and the principles of administrative law.

Judge Egan found that the Minister's delegate had indeed failed to consider a crucial piece of information provided by the applicants, which was central to their claims for protection. This failure constituted a failure to take into account a relevant consideration, rendering the delegate's decision to refuse the visas legally flawed. The Court applied the established principles of administrative law, particularly concerning the duty to consider all relevant material placed before the decision-maker. Consequently, the Court quashed the decisions of the Minister's delegate to refuse the grant of visas to the applicants.