NAWR v MIMIA

The applicants, NAWR and MIMIA, brought proceedings before the High Court of Australia concerning the interpretation of certain provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and the *Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977* (Cth). The core of the dispute revolved around the lawfulness of decisions made by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (MIMIA) in relation to the applicants' immigration status.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Minister's decisions were vitiated by jurisdictional error. Specifically, the court considered whether the Minister had failed to take into account a relevant consideration or had taken into account an irrelevant consideration when exercising the power to refuse to grant a visa, and whether such a failure constituted a jurisdictional error that rendered the decision invalid.

Gummow and Heydon JJ applied the principles established in cases such as *Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Eshetu* and *Re Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; Ex parte Epeabie*, which outline the grounds upon which administrative decisions can be challenged for jurisdictional error. Their Honours emphasised that for a failure to consider a relevant consideration to amount to jurisdictional error, the consideration must be one that the decision-maker was legally required to take into account. The court found that the Minister's decision-making process, in this instance, did not involve jurisdictional error.

The High Court dismissed the applications for judicial review.