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 S61/2016 v. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

Case No. S61/2016
Case information

Catchwords

Migration – Family Stream – Direction by Minister – Where Minister gave written Direction 62 – order for considering and disposing of Family Stream visa applications, under s 499 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) – Where direction provides an order of priority for the processing of Family Stream visa applications – Whether the Direction is a legislative instrument per Legislation Act 2003 (Cth) – Whether Direction obliged delegates of the Minister to follow the order of priority set out in s 8 of the Direction in every case – Whether Direction is inconsistent with the Minister?s obligation under the Migration Act to consider and determine each Family Stream visa application within a reasonable time - Whether Direction is inconsistent with s 51(1) of the Migration Act.

Short particulars

Documents

10/03/2016 Application for an order to show cause

22/04/2016 Hearing (Single Justice, Sydney)

21/06/2016 Hearing (Single Justice, Sydney)

06/07/2016 Hearing (Single Justice, Sydney)

25/07/2016 Written submissions (Plaintiff)

19/08/2016 Written submissions (Defendant)

02/09/2016 Reply (Plaintiff)

26/09/2016 Hearing (Single Justice, Sydney)

07/10/2016 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) - VACATED