Liyanagama v Minister For Immigration and Anor (No.2)

This matter concerned an application for judicial review brought by Mr Liyanagama against the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The applicant sought to challenge the lawfulness of ASIO's decision to refuse to provide him with a copy of a report that had been prepared by ASIO concerning him, and which had been provided to the Minister. The application was heard in the Federal Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the applicant had a right to access the ASIO report concerning him, notwithstanding the provisions of the *Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979* (Cth) (the ASIO Act). Specifically, the Court was required to consider the scope of the applicant's rights under the *Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977* (Cth) (the ADJR Act) in relation to ASIO's refusal to disclose the report, and whether any such rights were displaced or limited by the provisions of the ASIO Act.

Judge McGuire found that the applicant did not have a right to access the report. The Court reasoned that section 35 of the ASIO Act, which deals with the disclosure of information by ASIO, expressly prohibits the disclosure of information to a person if the disclosure would be contrary to the public interest or would prejudice the effectiveness of ASIO's operations. The Court held that this provision operated to prevent the disclosure of the report to the applicant, and that the ADJR Act did not confer a right that was inconsistent with this statutory prohibition. The Court further noted that the applicant had not demonstrated that the decision to refuse disclosure was otherwise unlawful.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.