Salter v Minister for Home Affairs

In the Federal Court of Australia, Justice Jarrett considered the case of *Salter v Minister for Home Affairs*. The applicant, Mr Salter, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) concerning a non-protection visa application. The core of the dispute revolved around the conduct of the Tribunal during the hearing of Mr Salter's application.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the AAT was required to act reasonably when questioning a witness, specifically Mr Salter, during the review of his non-protection visa decision. Mr Salter contended that the Tribunal's questioning was unreasonable and amounted to jurisdictional error.

Justice Jarrett reasoned that the AAT, in conducting its review, is not bound by the strict rules of evidence and has a broad inquisitorial role. The Court found that the questions posed by the Tribunal to Mr Salter were within the scope of its powers and were directed towards eliciting information relevant to the assessment of his application. The questioning was found to be a legitimate exercise of the Tribunal's duty to inform itself of the facts, and therefore, it did not demonstrate jurisdictional error.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.