Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v. WZARH & Anor

Lower Court Judgment

20/10/2014 Federal Court of Australia (Flick J, Nicholas J & Gleeson J)

[2014] FCAFC 137

Catchwords

Migration – Refugee and humanitarian visas – Procedural fairness – Where a department officer determined that the respondent was not a refugee – Where the respondent sought a review of this decision – Where the respondent was interviewed by a merits reviewer – Where the merits reviewer told the respondent that they would be the person to determine the application – Where the merits reviewer was unable to conclude the review and the review was concluded by another reviewer – Whether there is a breach of procedural fairness where an alternate reviewer makes a decision based on the documentary materials, submissions and an audio recording of the interview but does not inform the applicant of the change in decision-making, ask for submissions on how to proceed, or allow for an additional face-to-face interview.

Short particulars