Swa v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Swa, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration to refuse a medical treatment visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal had previously refused an adjournment of the applicant's review hearing on the basis that the health practitioner certificate provided was inadequate. At the hearing for the judicial review application, the applicant sought leave to discontinue the proceedings.

The primary legal issues before the Federal Court were whether the applicant should be granted leave to discontinue the judicial review application and, if so, what orders should be made regarding the costs of those proceedings. Specifically, the Court was required to consider whether the discontinuance at the hearing constituted "any other case" for the purposes of the migration costs schedule.

Judge Lucev granted the applicant leave to discontinue the judicial review application. The Court noted that the applicant had sought to discontinue the proceedings at the earliest opportunity after being put on notice of relevant Federal Court precedents concerning the adequacy of health practitioner certificates. In light of this, and the fact that the respondent had not yet filed a defence, the Court ordered that there be no order as to costs.