Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v White P74/2000

The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs appealed to the High Court of Australia against a decision of the Full Federal Court which had allowed an appeal by Mr. White. The dispute concerned the validity of a decision made by the Minister to refuse to grant Mr. White a protection visa. Mr. White, a citizen of the United Kingdom, had arrived in Australia and sought a protection visa on the basis that he feared persecution in his home country. The Minister's delegate had refused the application, a decision later affirmed by the Minister. Mr. White subsequently appealed to the Federal Court.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Minister's delegate, in considering Mr. White's application for a protection visa, had failed to take into account a relevant consideration, namely, the possibility of Mr. White being able to obtain a protection visa in New Zealand. This question arose in the context of the Minister's delegate's assessment of whether Mr. White would be subject to persecution in the United Kingdom, a key criterion for the grant of a protection visa under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).

The Court held that the delegate's consideration of the possibility of obtaining a protection visa in New Zealand was not a relevant consideration for the purposes of assessing whether Mr. White would be subject to persecution in the United Kingdom. The statutory criteria for a protection visa focused on the circumstances in the applicant's country of nationality. The availability of protection in a third country, such as New Zealand, was not a factor that the delegate was required or permitted to take into account when determining whether the criteria for a protection visa were met. The Court reasoned that to introduce such a consideration would be to import an extraneous and irrelevant factor into the decision-making process, thereby vitiating the decision.

The High Court allowed the Minister's appeal, setting aside the order of the Full Federal Court and remitting the matter to the Federal Court for further consideration.