Lagoon Caravan Pty Ltd (Migration)

This matter concerned an application by Lagoon Caravan Pty Ltd for review of a decision by the Minister to take action under section 140M of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). The Australian Border Force had identified potential failures by the applicant to satisfy sponsorship obligations, including underpayment of a sponsored employee, failure to provide requested records, and failure to notify the Department when the sponsored employee ceased employment. The applicant was also found to have provided false or misleading information.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant had failed to satisfy its sponsorship obligations under regulations 2.79, 2.83, and 2.84, and whether it had provided false or misleading information under regulation 2.90. The Tribunal was required to consider these findings in light of the criteria set out in regulations 2.89 and 2.90 when determining what action, if any, to take under section 140M of the Act.

The Tribunal accepted that the applicant's failure to provide accurate payslips and bank statements was due to a payroll system error and not an intention to mislead, although it did find that the applicant had not notified the Department upon discovering the information was false or misleading. Crucially, the Tribunal noted that the applicant's standard business sponsorship had ceased prior to the decision, meaning it was no longer an "approved sponsor" for the purposes of section 140M(1). Consequently, the Tribunal could only consider actions under section 140M(2) concerning former approved sponsors.

Given that the applicant was no longer an approved sponsor and considering all relevant circumstances, the Tribunal determined that it was not appropriate to impose any future sanctions. Therefore, the Tribunal set aside the decision under review and substituted a decision not to take any action specified in section 140M of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).