Re Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; Ex parte Durairajasingham

This matter concerned an application for prerogative relief brought in the original jurisdiction of the High Court of Australia by Mr Durairajasingham against the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. The applicant sought to challenge a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) that refused to grant him a protection visa.

The core legal issues before the Court were whether the RRT had failed to take into account relevant considerations and evidence, and whether it had failed to consider all available inferences that could be drawn from the evidence presented. Additionally, the Court was asked to determine whether section 430(1) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) mandated the Tribunal to refer to evidence that contradicted its findings, and if a breach of this provision constituted a jurisdictional error sufficient to ground prerogative relief. The Court also considered the extent of its own jurisdiction to grant certiorari under section 75(v) of the Constitution.

McHugh J found that the applicant had failed to establish an arguable case for the grant of an order nisi. His Honour noted the significant impact of amendments to the *Migration Act* on the High Court's caseload, observing that restrictions on the Federal Court's jurisdiction to review RRT decisions inevitably led to a greater number of applications being brought before the High Court under its constitutionally entrenched section 75(v) jurisdiction. This, in turn, placed a considerable burden on the Court's resources and could lead to prolonged detention for applicants.

The application for relief was dismissed with costs.