SZTNG v Minister for Immigration

SZTNG (the applicant) sought judicial review of a recommendation made by an independent protection assessor that Australia did not owe him protection obligations. The applicant alleged that the assessor denied him procedural fairness by failing to notify him of material information and by not considering all aspects of his protection claim. The matter came before Judge Cameron in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the assessor breached the duty of procedural fairness owed to the applicant. Specifically, the Court was required to determine if the assessor failed to provide the applicant with notice of adverse information that was relied upon in making the recommendation, and whether the assessor adequately considered all the integers of the applicant's protection claim.

Judge Cameron found that the assessor had failed to provide the applicant with adequate notice of certain adverse information that was taken into account in the assessment. This failure constituted a breach of the duty of procedural fairness, as it deprived the applicant of a proper opportunity to respond to material that was detrimental to his claim. Consequently, the Court quashed the assessor's recommendation.