Khan v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

The appeal was brought by four Bangladeshi nationals against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which found that it lacked jurisdiction to review the decisions of the delegate of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection because the review application was lodged out of time. The AAT’s decision was upheld by the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and the matter is now before the court on appeal. The central issue before the court was whether the primary judge was correct to uphold the AAT’s decision that it lacked jurisdiction to determine the matter because the review application was filed out of time. The court found that while the appellants were in an unfortunate and awkward position through no fault of their own, the primary judge had correctly applied the relevant legislative provisions. The court held that section 494D of the relevant Act was the leading provision, and that section 494B(5) was subordinate to it. The court found that for the purposes of section 494B, the recipient in question was not each of the appellants but rather was the nominated contact person, Md. Haque, who plainly was not a minor. The appeal was dismissed and there was no order as to costs.