SZTVU v Minister for Immigration

This matter concerned an application for an extension of time under s 477(2) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) by the applicant, SZTVU, to bring a second application for judicial review. The original decision under review was made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), which had found it lacked jurisdiction to review a decision by the Minister's delegate not to grant the applicant a Temporary Protection (Class XD) (Subclass 785) visa. The applicant's first application for judicial review had been unsuccessful, having proceeded through the Federal Circuit Court, the Federal Court, and the High Court.

The applicant sought an eighteen-month extension of time to file his second application for judicial review. The proposed substantive ground for this new application asserted that the statutory instrument under which the applicant was classified as a "fast track review applicant" was invalid and did not apply to him. This new ground was substantially the same as a ground that had been refused leave to be relied upon by the Full Court of the Federal Court in an earlier decision.

The Court considered that the principle of finality of litigation weighed heavily against granting an extension of time. It was deemed unreasonable that the new proposed substantive ground had not been raised in the applicant's initial application for judicial review. Furthermore, the Court found that, in any event, the new proposed substantive ground did not have reasonable prospects of success.

Consequently, the application for an extension of time was refused.