Henley v Australian Human Rights Commission

Henley (the applicant) brought proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against the Australian Human Rights Commission (the respondent). The dispute concerned the Commission's decision to dismiss Mr Henley's application alleging unlawful discrimination under the *Age Discrimination Act 2004* (Cth) on the basis that it was frivolous, vexatious, or lacking in substance. Mr Henley sought judicial review of this decision.

The primary legal issue before Dowdy J was whether the Commission's decision to dismiss the application under s 46PH(1)(a) of the *Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986* (Cth) was affected by an error of law. Specifically, the court was asked to consider whether the Commission had failed to properly consider the evidence before it when making its assessment of whether the application was frivolous, vexatious, or lacking in substance.

Dowdy J found that the Commission had indeed made an error of law. Her Honour reasoned that the Commission's assessment had been based on an incomplete and inaccurate understanding of the material before it, particularly concerning the applicant's allegations of age discrimination. The Commission had failed to adequately engage with the substance of Mr Henley's complaint, leading to an erroneous conclusion that it was without merit. The legal principle applied was that a decision-maker must properly consider all relevant material before reaching a conclusion, and a failure to do so constitutes an error of law.

The court ordered that the Commission's decision to dismiss the application be set aside and remitted to the Commission for reconsideration according to law.