NADR v MIMIA

The High Court of Australia heard an appeal in *NADR v MIMIA*. The dispute concerned the applicant's claim for compensation under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) for alleged mistreatment while in immigration detention. The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs was the respondent.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the applicant's claim for damages for alleged mistreatment in immigration detention was barred by the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), specifically by section 197B. This section provides that a non-citizen in immigration detention is not entitled to be detained in a Dickson facility or a facility of a prescribed class, and that the Minister is not under a duty to detain a non-citizen in such a facility. The applicant argued that this provision did not preclude a claim for damages for mistreatment.

Gleeson CJ and Heydon J, in separate judgments, held that section 197B of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) did not operate to prevent the applicant from pursuing a claim for damages for mistreatment. Their Honours reasoned that the section's purpose was to define the conditions of detention and the Minister's obligations in relation to those conditions, rather than to extinguish common law rights to sue for tortious conduct. The Court found that the applicant's claim was not an attempt to enforce a right to be detained in a particular facility, but rather a claim for damages arising from alleged breaches of duty of care.

The appeal was allowed, and the matter was remitted to the Federal Court for determination of the applicant's claim.