Hong v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Hong, sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) concerning a partner visa. The Minister for Immigration was the respondent. The core of the dispute involved the AAT's handling of a certificate and whether its contents, which were not initially disclosed to the applicant, constituted a failure to provide natural justice or jurisdictional error. The matter was heard in the Federal Court of Australia before Judge Kendall.

The legal issues before the Court were whether the AAT was required to consider the interests of a child in its decision-making process, and whether the Tribunal's failure to disclose a particular certificate to the applicant was a material error that vitiated its decision. The applicant also raised concerns about apprehended bias on the part of the Tribunal.

Judge Kendall, referencing the principles established in *Tumil-Ang v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services & Multicultural Affairs* [2019] FCA 1824, found that the AAT was not required to disclose the certificate to the applicant. This was because the information contained within the certificate was already part of the delegate's decision, which had been provided to the Tribunal. Therefore, the exception under section 359A(4)(b) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) applied, meaning the Tribunal's omission did not constitute a failure to comply with the natural justice hearing rule. The Court also rejected the claim of apprehended bias, holding that the Tribunal's reference to the certificate's contents, which were already before it, would not lead a fair-minded observer to apprehend that the Tribunal lacked impartiality.

The application was dismissed.