Metohu, Zanaj, Ex parte - Re Min for Immigration

The applicants, Metohu and Zanaj, sought an order of prohibition against the Minister for Immigration. The dispute concerned the Minister's decision to refuse to grant them a protection visa.

The primary legal issue before Hayne J was whether the Minister's decision to refuse the protection visa applications was vitiated by a failure to afford the applicants procedural fairness. Specifically, the applicants contended that they were not given adequate notice of the adverse information that the Minister intended to rely upon in refusing their applications, nor were they given a reasonable opportunity to respond to that information.

Hayne J considered the principles of procedural fairness as established in Australian administrative law, particularly the right to know the case against oneself and the right to answer it. His Honour found that the information relied upon by the Minister was indeed adverse and that the applicants had not been afforded a sufficient opportunity to address it. Consequently, the decision to refuse the protection visas was found to be legally flawed.

The court made orders quashing the Minister's decision and remitting the applications for reconsideration according to law.