SZUPM and Ors v Minister for Immigration and Anor

The applicants, SZUPM and others, sought judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) to refuse their applications for protection visas. The Minister for Immigration and another were the respondents. The core of the dispute concerned allegations that the Tribunal's decision was affected by jurisdictional error due to a failure to comply with section 424A(1) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the Tribunal had committed jurisdictional error by failing to provide the applicants with certain information as required by section 424A(1) of the *Migration Act*. This section mandates that before making a decision, the Tribunal must provide an applicant with a copy of any information that is "relevant to the decision" and that the Tribunal "considers might be the reason, or part of the reason," for the decision being adverse to the applicant. The applicants contended that the Tribunal's failure to provide them with specific adverse information meant they were denied a proper opportunity to respond, thus vitiating the decision.

Justice Cameron found that the Tribunal had indeed failed to comply with its obligations under section 424A(1). The Court reasoned that the purpose of this provision is to ensure procedural fairness by allowing applicants to address adverse information that might lead to a negative outcome. The Tribunal's failure to provide the applicants with a copy of the adverse information, and to afford them a reasonable opportunity to respond, constituted a jurisdictional error. Consequently, the Tribunal's decision was set aside.