Ratugolea v Minister for Home Affairs & Anor

Gageler J of the High Court of Australia considered the application for judicial review brought by Mr Ratugolea against the Minister for Home Affairs and the Commonwealth of Australia. The dispute concerned the lawfulness of the Minister's decision to refuse to revoke a decision that Mr Ratugolea did not meet the character requirements for a visa. Mr Ratugolea had been convicted of a serious criminal offence in Australia and had served a custodial sentence.

The central legal issue before Gageler J was whether the Minister's decision to refuse to revoke the character cancellation was vitiated by an error of law, specifically, whether the Minister had failed to take into account a relevant consideration, namely, the best interests of Mr Ratugolea's child, when making the decision. This required an examination of the scope of the Minister's obligations under s 501(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and the principles of administrative law concerning the consideration of relevant factors.

Gageler J reasoned that the Minister's power to revoke a character cancellation under s 501(3) of the *Migration Act* was a broad discretionary power. However, this discretion was not unfettered and required the Minister to consider all relevant factors. His Honour found that the best interests of Mr Ratugolea's child were a relevant consideration that the Minister was obliged to take into account. The evidence before the court indicated that the Minister had not adequately considered this factor, leading to an error of law.

Consequently, Gageler J made orders quashing the Minister's decision to refuse to revoke the character cancellation and remitting the matter to the Minister for reconsideration according to law.