Melsom v Deputy President Forrest

The applicants, trustees, sought judicial review of the decision of the first respondent, Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, to refuse their application to be joined in proceedings before the Tribunal to review the decisions of the Inspector-General in Bankruptcy to refuse requests by the second respondents to review their decisions to file notices of objection to the second respondents' discharge from bankruptcy. The applicants claimed the decision was unreasonable, involved a failure to consider relevant considerations, and constituted an error of law in the failure to evaluate and weigh relevant factors. The court held that none of the grounds of review was established and dismissed the application. The court held that the first respondent had considered the submissions made by counsel for the applicants and had weighed them against the submissions made on behalf of the second respondents. The decision of the first respondent was not so unreasonable that no reasonable person could have arrived at it and he had not failed to evaluate or weigh the relevant factors.