He v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, He, sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which affirmed the Minister for Immigration's refusal to grant a partner visa. The AAT had found that He had not established that she was in a genuine de facto relationship with her sponsor, a prerequisite for the visa.

The central legal issue before the Federal Court was whether the AAT had committed a jurisdictional error by failing to disclose a specific concern to the applicant during its review. This concern related to whether the relationship was motivated by business considerations, which the applicant argued was a crucial factor in the Tribunal's adverse finding and that she was denied a proper opportunity to address it.

Justice Driver found that the AAT had indeed breached section 360 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). The Court reasoned that the Tribunal had a positive obligation under section 360 to notify the applicant of any adverse information or issues that might lead to an unfavourable decision, and to provide an opportunity for the applicant to respond. The failure to disclose the specific concern about business motivations meant the applicant was denied procedural fairness, constituting a jurisdictional error.

The Court ordered that the AAT's decision be set aside and remitted to the AAT for redetermination according to law.