Heffernan and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application by Heffernan seeking review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs to refuse a Return (Residence) (Class BB) (Subclass 155) visa. The core of the dispute concerned whether the AAT possessed jurisdiction to review this refusal, specifically whether it constituted a "Part-5 Reviewable Decision" under the relevant migration legislation. A key factual element was that the applicant was offshore at the time the application for review was lodged with the Tribunal.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether it had the legal authority to hear and determine the applicant's review application. This involved an assessment of the requirements for applying for review and whether those requirements were met, particularly in circumstances where the applicant was not physically present in Australia when the review application was filed. The central question was whether the applicant's offshore status precluded the Tribunal from exercising its jurisdiction.

The Tribunal concluded that it did not have jurisdiction to consider the review application. Applying the relevant provisions of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975*, the Tribunal found that the application for review had not been validly made in accordance with the statutory requirements, likely due to the applicant's offshore location at the time of lodgement. Consequently, the Tribunal dismissed the application for review for want of jurisdiction.