Moghilan v Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Home Affairs)

The applicant, Mr. Moghilan, brought proceedings against the Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Home Affairs) in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. Mr. Moghilan alleged that the respondent had unlawfully discriminated against him on the grounds of race in its decision to refuse him a tourist visa. However, Mr. Moghilan did not seek a review of the visa refusal decision itself.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether Mr. Moghilan's application had any reasonable prospect of success in establishing that the respondent had engaged in unlawful racial discrimination. The Court was also required to consider whether the application should be dismissed under the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001 (Cth) for lacking a reasonable prospect of success or for failure to appear at a directions hearing.

Judge McNab dismissed the application pursuant to rule 13.10 of the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001, finding that there was no reasonable prospect of a court finding that the respondent had unlawfully discriminated against the applicant. This conclusion was reached notwithstanding that the applicant did not appear at a directions hearing, which also provided an alternative ground for dismissal under rule 13.03C(1)(c) of the same Rules. The Court therefore ordered that the application be dismissed.