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

The applicant, HDWH, sought judicial review of the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs' decision to affirm the mandatory cancellation of his Class TY Subclass 444 Special Category (Temporary) visa. The dispute centred on whether there was "another reason" to revoke the cancellation, despite the applicant not passing the character test due to his criminal offending. The matter was heard by Rebecca Bellamy M.

The court was required to determine whether the Minister's decision to affirm the mandatory cancellation of the applicant's visa was lawful. This involved considering the weight to be given to various factors under Ministerial Direction No. 90, particularly the primary consideration of protecting the Australian community from harm, and assessing whether any of these factors constituted "another reason" to revoke the cancellation. The court also had to evaluate the nature and seriousness of the applicant's offending, including violent crimes and aggressive behaviour, and the risk posed to the community.

The court reasoned that the applicant's offending, which included crimes of violence such as assault and grievous bodily harm, as well as aggressive and threatening behaviour towards individuals and police officers, was very serious. The court noted that the applicant had committed an armed robbery where a knife was held close to the victim's face, and had deliberately broken windows on two occasions. In light of the seriousness of these offences and the risk they posed to the Australian community, the court found that it could not exercise the discretion to revoke the cancellation of the applicant's visa.

Consequently, the decision under review was affirmed.