Park & Ors v Minister of State for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs

The parties in this matter were the Minister of State for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (the respondent) and several applicants (the appellants). The dispute concerned the lawfulness of the applicants' detention and the validity of deportation orders made against them. The case came before the High Court of Australia on an application for special leave to appeal.

The legal issues before the High Court included whether the Federal Court erred in failing to make declarations that each applicant was unlawfully detained. The applicants also sought to maintain their claim for damages and argued that they should have been offered the alternative of supervised voluntary departure rather than deportation. Complaints regarding bias and the validity of a second deportation order were not being pursued.

The applicants contended that the Federal Court should have considered the question of damages and declarations, particularly in relation to the first deportation order. They relied on the view of a dissenting judge in the Full Court who would have made a declaration of unlawful detention. The applicants argued that the issue of unlawful detention or false imprisonment was capable of determination by the Federal Court, even if it had not been appropriately raised at first instance, and that it fell within the accrued jurisdiction of the court.