NAWZ v MIMIA

The applicants, NAWZ and others, sought judicial review of decisions made by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (MIMIA) concerning their applications for protection visas. The applicants were asylum seekers who had arrived in Australia by boat. The Minister had refused their applications, and this refusal was affirmed by the Refugee Review Tribunal. The applicants then sought to challenge the Minister's decisions in the High Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Minister's decisions to refuse the protection visa applications were vitiated by a failure to observe the procedural fairness owed to the applicants. Specifically, the applicants contended that the Minister had failed to provide them with adequate notice of adverse information that was to be relied upon in assessing their claims, and that they were not afforded a reasonable opportunity to respond to this information. This failure, they argued, amounted to a breach of the duty of procedural fairness inherent in the decision-making process under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).

Gummow and Heydon JJ, in their joint judgment, considered the principles of procedural fairness as applied to administrative decision-making, particularly in the context of protection visa applications. They affirmed that while the Minister is not required to adopt the procedures of a court, a fundamental aspect of procedural fairness is the right to know the case one has to meet. Their Honours found that the Minister had relied on adverse information that had not been disclosed to the applicants, thereby preventing them from making a full and effective response. This failure to disclose and provide an opportunity to respond was held to be a breach of the duty of procedural fairness.

Consequently, the High Court found that the Minister's decisions were affected by a jurisdictional error. The Court made orders quashing the decisions of the Minister and remitting the applications for protection visas to the Minister for reconsideration according to law.