SZAFO v MIMIA

The applicants, SZAFO and MIMIA, brought proceedings before the High Court of Australia concerning the interpretation of certain provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). The core of the dispute revolved around the lawfulness of decisions made by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (MIMIA) in relation to the applicants' applications for protection visas.

The High Court was required to determine whether the Minister's decisions were vitiated by a failure to afford the applicants procedural fairness. Specifically, the court considered whether the Minister was obliged to provide the applicants with an opportunity to respond to adverse information that was before the Minister when making the decision, and whether the Minister's delegate had properly considered all relevant information in accordance with the *Migration Act*.

In their reasoning, Hayne and Callinan JJ applied established principles of administrative law concerning procedural fairness. Their Honours held that where a decision-maker relies on adverse information that has not been disclosed to the applicant, and that information is significant to the outcome of the decision, procedural fairness generally requires that the applicant be given an opportunity to address that information. The court found that the delegate's failure to disclose certain adverse material to the applicants before making the decision meant that the decision was made in contravention of the requirements of procedural fairness.

Consequently, the High Court allowed the appeals, quashed the decisions of the Minister, and remitted the applications for protection visas to the Minister for reconsideration according to law.