Lim & Ors v The Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs

In the High Court of Australia, the plaintiffs, led by Chu Kheng Lim, and the defendants, the Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs and the Commonwealth of Australia, presented arguments in a case stated. The dispute concerned the interpretation and application of the Migration Amendment Act, which was enacted shortly after proceedings in the Federal Court had commenced.

The central legal issue before the High Court was the effect of the Migration Amendment Act on the plaintiffs' applications for release. Specifically, the court was required to determine whether the amendments retrospectively altered the legal landscape in a manner that would prevent the making of an order for release in the proceedings that were ongoing at the time of the Act's passage.

The submissions indicated that the defendants conceded that a purpose of the amending legislation was to prevent an order for release being made in the proceedings scheduled for hearing shortly after the Act's enactment. The plaintiffs' argument, as foreshadowed, focused on drawing the Court's attention to aspects of the Migration Amendment Act that they contended were of significance to the matters raised by the case stated, particularly the timing of its passage and assent in relation to the ongoing litigation.