Vergara v Minister for Immigration

In *Vergara v Minister for Immigration*, the applicant, who was held in immigration detention, sought a declaration that the Minister's decision to ban mobile phone possession and use in detention was invalid. The applicant also sought an injunction to prevent the Minister, the Department, and their officers from enforcing this decision. The proceedings were brought in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, invoking its jurisdiction under s 476 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the respondents had the authority to search detainees for and retain mobile phones, and whether the applicant was denied procedural fairness in relation to the decision to implement the mobile phone ban and confiscation policy. The Court was also required to consider its own jurisdiction in light of the nature of the decision and the existence of similar proceedings before the Federal Court.

Judge Smith noted that the applicant had been informed of the new policy on 21 November 2016, which prohibited mobile phones and SIM cards in immigration detention facilities from 20 February 2017, with a grace period for voluntary surrender. After this date, phones were to be confiscated as contraband. The applicant commenced proceedings on 7 December 2016. The Court observed that the applicant had not filed written submissions and had relied on submissions made in a related case, *SZSZM v Minister for Immigration & Border Protection & Ors* [2017] FCCA 819. Consequently, the Court determined that the issues in *Vergara* were identical to those in *SZSZM*, and the reasons and outcome of that judgment were determinative of the present proceedings.

As the applicant had effectively abandoned any grounds not covered by the submissions in *SZSZM*, and given that the Court found no reviewable error in the *SZSZM* decision, the application in *Vergara* was dismissed.