Harris & Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs not to revoke the mandatory cancellation of the applicant's Class TY subclass 444 Special Category (Temporary) visa. The applicant, who had not passed the character test, sought to have the cancellation revoked. The case was heard by Rebecca Bellamy M.

The central legal issue before the court was whether there was "another reason" to revoke the mandatory cancellation of the applicant's visa, as contemplated by section 501CA(4)(b)(ii) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). This required the court to consider the principles outlined in Ministerial Direction No. 79, particularly concerning the protection of the Australian community, the nature and seriousness of the applicant's conduct, and the risk of future offending.

The court reasoned that while Australia has a sovereign right to determine who remains in the country and a low tolerance for criminal conduct by non-citizens, the decision-maker must also consider other relevant factors. In this instance, the court found that the applicant's criminal offending, while present, did not reach a threshold that would preclude the exercise of discretion to revoke the cancellation. The court was satisfied that there was another reason to revoke the mandatory cancellation.

Consequently, the decision under review was set aside and substituted. The court exercised the discretion under section 501CA(4)(b)(ii) of the Act to revoke the mandatory cancellation of the applicant's visa.