Sikander v Minister for Immigration

Sikander (the applicant) sought judicial review of a decision made by the Migration Review Tribunal (the Tribunal). The applicant contended that the Tribunal failed to comply with its obligations under section 359A of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) when making its decision.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the Tribunal had adequately considered and responded to the information provided by the applicant, as required by section 359A of the *Migration Act*. This section mandates that the Tribunal must, if it is not favourable to the applicant, give the applicant a reasonable opportunity to respond to adverse information.

Judge Barnes found that the Tribunal had indeed failed to comply with section 359A. The Court reasoned that the Tribunal had relied on adverse information that had not been put to the applicant for comment, thereby denying the applicant a reasonable opportunity to respond. This failure constituted a jurisdictional error.

Consequently, the Court ordered that the decision of the Migration Review Tribunal be set aside.