Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v B

The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (the Minister) appealed to the High Court of Australia against orders made by the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia. The dispute concerned the Family Court's jurisdiction to make orders regarding the welfare of children who were in immigration detention, and specifically, whether that jurisdiction extended to ordering their release from detention.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Family Court's welfare jurisdiction, as conferred by the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), extended to children of marriages whose parents were in immigration detention. A further key issue was whether, in exercising this jurisdiction, the Family Court possessed the power to make orders that would direct the release of such children from immigration detention, particularly when such orders might be inconsistent with the obligations imposed on federal officers under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

The High Court allowed the appeal, setting aside the orders of the Full Court of the Family Court. The Court reasoned that the Family Court's welfare jurisdiction, as defined by sections 69ZF and 69ZH of the Family Law Act, was primarily concerned with the parental responsibility of parties to a marriage for a child of that marriage. The Court found that this jurisdiction did not extend to making orders for the release of children from immigration detention, as such an exercise of power would be inconsistent with the specific obligations imposed on officers under the Migration Act to detain and remove unlawful non-citizens. The Court concluded that the Family Court did not have the power to make the orders it had purported to make.