Plaintiff S348/2011 & Anor v MIAC & Anor

The applicants, identified as Plaintiff S348/2011 and another, sought judicial review of decisions made by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (MIAC) and another respondent. The core of the dispute concerned the lawfulness of the Minister's decision to refuse to revoke a decision that the applicants were not persons to whom section 198 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) applied, and consequently, their detention. The matter came before the High Court of Australia, with judgment delivered by Heydon J.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Minister's decision to refuse to revoke the original decision was vitiated by jurisdictional error. Specifically, the applicants contended that the Minister failed to consider relevant considerations and took into account irrelevant considerations when making the refusal decision. This failure, they argued, meant the Minister did not exercise the power conferred by section 198(7) of the *Migration Act* according to its terms, thereby constituting a jurisdictional error.

Heydon J's reasoning focused on the scope of the Minister's power under section 198(7) and the requirements for its valid exercise. His Honour considered the nature of the "relevant considerations" that the Minister was obliged to take into account. The judgment affirmed that a failure to consider relevant matters or the consideration of irrelevant matters could indeed amount to jurisdictional error, rendering the subsequent decision invalid. The court examined the evidence before the Minister and the material that was, or ought to have been, before him to determine if the statutory requirements had been met.

The High Court found that the Minister had not made a jurisdictional error in refusing to revoke the decision. Consequently, the application for judicial review was dismissed.