ENT19 v Minister for Home Affairs & Anor

Gageler J of the High Court of Australia considered the application for judicial review brought by ENT19 against the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs. The applicant sought to challenge the lawfulness of decisions made under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) concerning their immigration status.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the Minister's delegate had failed to consider relevant considerations and had taken into account irrelevant considerations when making the impugned decisions. Specifically, the applicant contended that the delegate had overlooked or given insufficient weight to certain information provided by the applicant, which was material to the assessment of their claims. This raised questions about the scope of the duty to consider relevant material in administrative decision-making under the *Migration Act*.

Gageler J applied the principles of administrative law concerning the duty to afford procedural fairness. His Honour examined the evidence before the delegate and the reasons provided for the decisions. The Court determined that the delegate's reasoning demonstrated a failure to properly engage with and consider the entirety of the material placed before them, thereby vitiating the lawfulness of the decisions. The delegate's approach was found to be inconsistent with the requirements of the *Migration Act* and the common law duty to consider relevant considerations.

The High Court made orders quashing the decisions of the Minister's delegate and remitting the matter to the Minister for redetermination according to law.