SABCHA PTY LTD (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered a migration matter involving SABCHA PTY LTD as the applicant and the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs as the respondent. The dispute concerned the approval of a nominated position under the Temporary Residence Transition stream. The core of the matter revolved around adverse information that had come to the Tribunal's attention regarding the nominator company.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether SABCHA PTY LTD met the general requirements for the approval of a nomination, specifically regulation 5.19(4)(b) of the Migration Regulations 1994. This regulation requires that either there is no adverse information known to Immigration about the nominator or a person associated with the nominator, or that it is reasonable to disregard any such information. The Tribunal also considered the definition of "adverse information" and "associated with" as provided in regulations 1.13A and 1.13B respectively.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the adverse information concerning an ongoing investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman into SABCHA PTY LTD for alleged underpayment and failure to keep records. The Tribunal noted that this information, if not disregarded, could indicate that the nominator did not meet the requirements for approval. Despite the applicant's denial of the allegations, the Tribunal found that the existence of a major ongoing investigation by a regulatory body constituted adverse information that was not reasonable to disregard. Consequently, regulation 5.19(3)(b) mandated the refusal of the nomination.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision under review to refuse the nomination.