Taylor and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

This matter concerned an application by Mr Taylor for the recusal of the decision-maker on the grounds of apprehended bias. The applicant, Mr Taylor, was born in England in 1965 and arrived in Australia as a child. He acquired Australian citizenship by conferral in 1988 but later renounced it in 1995. Mr Taylor had a history of dishonesty offences, including convictions for multiple falsified income tax returns, which the Court of Appeal described as a "large-scale, highly planned and most ingenious" criminal enterprise. The respondent was the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs.

The central legal issue before the court was whether there was a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the decision-maker, such that the decision-maker might not bring an impartial mind to the issues to be decided. This required an objective assessment of the connection between the facts and circumstances relied upon by the applicant and the asserted conclusion of bias.

The court applied the principles established in *Michael Wilson & Partners v Nicholls* and *SZRUI v Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship*, which require an objective assessment of apprehended bias by reference to a hypothetical informed and fair-minded observer. The court outlined the two-step test from *Ebner v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy*: first, identifying what might lead a decision-maker to decide a case other than on its merits, and second, articulating the logical connection between that matter and the feared deviation from impartial decision-making. The court emphasised that a bare assertion of bias is insufficient; the applicant must demonstrate that a reasonable observer might apprehend that the decision-maker might approach the determination of the issues with a foreclosed mind, rather than merely having a vague sense of unease.