Televantos v Commonwealth of Australia

The parties to this proceeding were the applicant, Televantos, and the respondent, the Commonwealth of Australia. The dispute concerned the validity of a notice issued by the Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs under s 13 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the Act) which purported to cancel the applicant's visa. The matter came before the High Court of Australia on appeal from the Full Federal Court.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Minister's notice of cancellation was validly served on the applicant. Specifically, the court was required to determine whether the notice, which was sent by registered post to the applicant's last known residential address, constituted effective service under s 13(1) of the Act, given that the applicant was not residing at that address at the time of posting and had not received the notice.

Brennan and Dawson JJ held that service of the notice was not effected. Their Honours reasoned that for service to be valid under s 13(1), the notice must be sent to the address where the person to be served is *actually* residing. The provision required actual receipt of the notice, or at least that it be sent to an address where the person was known to be residing. Sending the notice to an address where the applicant was no longer living, and which was not their last known address in the sense of being the place where they were currently residing, did not satisfy the requirements of the section. The court found that the Minister had not established that the notice was sent to the applicant's last known address in circumstances where it could be presumed to have reached him.

Consequently, the High Court allowed the appeal and ordered that the appeal from the Full Federal Court be upheld, with the result that the notice of cancellation was declared invalid.