High Court Registry closure

The High Court Registry will be closed from 4:00pm AEDT on Wednesday, 24 December 2025 and will re-open at 9:00am on Friday, 2 January 2026.

Any party seeking to file a document due to be filed between 25 December 2025 and 1 January 2026 has an automatic extension of time under the High Court Rules 2004 (Rule 4.01.5) until 4:00pm on Friday, 2 January 2026 to file the document. Any documents lodged between 25 December 2025 and 1 January 2026 will be reviewed on 2 January 2026.

All inquiries for the High Court will be considered when the Registry re-opens on Friday, 2 January 2026. If a matter is of extreme urgency, you may telephone 1800 570 566, select Option 1 and leave a voicemail. In addition, provide details by email to: registry@hcourt.gov.au.

Plaintiff S4/2014 v. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor

Case No. S4/2014
Case information

Catchwords

Migration - Refugees - Plaintiff was unlawful non-citizen upon entry in Australia - By reason of amendments to Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ("Act"), plaintiff became unauthorised maritime arrival within meaning of s 5AA(1) of Act - Without notice, Minister granted plaintiff Temporary Safe Haven (TSH) visa and Temporary Humanitarian Concern (THC) visa - Plaintiff applied for protection visa - Minister did not consider application for protection visa valid - Whether the grant of TSH and THC visas were invalid - If so, whether Minister is bound to determine that s 46A(1) of Act does not apply to plaintiff's application for protection visa.

Short Particulars

Documents

06/01/2014 Application for an order to show cause

23/01/2014 Hearing (Single Justice, Sydney by v/link Melbourne)

03/04/2014 Hearing (Single Justice, Canberra)

30/04/2014 Consent order referring special case to the Full Court

03/06/2014 Written submissions (Plaintiff)

03/06/2014 Chronology

01/07/2014 Written submissions (Defendants)

15/07/2014 Reply

13/08/2014 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) (Audio-visual recording)

11/09/2014 Judgment  (Judgment summary)