Plaintiff S284/2017 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Ors

The plaintiff, a citizen of Sri Lanka, sought an order to show cause from the High Court of Australia. This application followed the dismissal of his protection visa application by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, an affirmation of that decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and the subsequent dismissal of his application for judicial review by the Federal Circuit Court and refusal of leave to appeal by the Federal Court of Australia. The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection was the only appearing defendant.

The High Court was required to determine whether the plaintiff’s application for an order to show cause disclosed an arguable basis for the relief sought, specifically writs of certiorari and mandamus against the Tribunal and a writ of mandamus and an injunction against the Minister. The plaintiff contended that the decisions of the Federal Circuit Court and the Federal Court were unreasonable and made without procedural fairness, relating to his claims of a well-founded fear of persecution in Sri Lanka.

The Court dismissed the application under rule 25.09.1 of the High Court Rules 2004 (Cth) on the grounds that it did not disclose an arguable basis for relief. The Court reasoned that the plaintiff had not demonstrated any jurisdictional error by the Tribunal, nor had he sought to join the Tribunal as a party. Furthermore, any challenge to the Tribunal's decision would likely require extensions of time, which were unlikely to be granted given the prior unsuccessful judicial review and appeal. The Court also found that the complaints against the Federal Circuit Court and the Federal Court were unsubstantiated, mirroring arguments previously rejected by the Federal Court, and that there was no evidentiary basis to conclude the Federal Circuit Court hearing was unfair. The application was dismissed with costs.