Applicant S214 of 2002 v Attorney-General of Australia
[2004] FCA 1635
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Federal Court of Australia
Decision date
2004-12-13
Before
Hely J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (16 paragraphs)
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 This is an application pursuant to s 5 of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) ('the ADJR Act') for review of two decisions made by delegates of the respondent. Those decisions, made on 15 September 2004 ('the first decision') and 8 November 2004 ('the review decision') were both decisions to refuse to grant legal assistance to the applicant under s 69 of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) ('the AAT Act'). The review decision was an internal administrative review of the first decision and was made by a different delegate. 2 It is common ground that following its making, the review decision became the only operative or final decision refusing the applicant legal assistance under the AAT Act. Whilst this may raise an issue as to whether the first decision remains a decision to which the ADJR Act applies, nothing ultimately turns on this point because essentially the same challenge is made to the first decision as is made to the review decision. Counsel for the respondent accepted that if the review decision is liable to be quashed or set aside, so too is the first decision.
Background 3 In 1999, the applicant applied to the AAT for a review of a decision by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs refusing him a protection visa. The application for a protection visa was rejected because the delegate decided that the applicant is a person who falls within Article 1F of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) as amended by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1967) which, in very general terms, provides that the provisions of the Convention do not apply to any person with respect to whom there are serious reasons for considering that he has committed a war crime, or a crime against humanity. 4 The hearing before the AAT took place over the course of six days during which the applicant was legally represented. The applicant paid for that legal representation. On 12 October 2001 the AAT affirmed the decision of the Minister's delegate to refuse the applicant a protection visa. 5 The applicant then applied to the High Court of Australia for the issue of constitutional writs on the ground that the AAT had denied him procedural fairness. The High Court remitted the matter to this Court, and on 30 September 2003 Emmett J found in favour of the Minister. The applicant appealed from that decision to the Full Court which, in a decision given on 26 March 2004, unanimously found in favour of the applicant. The AAT's decision was quashed and a re-hearing has been ordered. That hearing is currently listed to be heard in the AAT in the week commencing Monday 28 February 2005, with seven days being set aside for the conduct of the hearing. 6 By letter dated 7 May 2004 the applicant applied to the respondent for legal assistance under s 69 of the AAT Act in respect of the re-hearing before the AAT. The letter described the background to the application and enclosed a copy of the judgment of the Full Court of 26 March 2004. The letter gave details of the applicant's personal circumstances including that he had been detained in immigration detention for nearly five years and that as a result of his detention and the emotional hardship he has endured throughout the proceedings, the applicant now suffers from psychiatric illness. Financial assistance in the sum of $104,000 was requested, including the sum of $10,000 for the cost of travel of witnesses from Afghanistan and the United States of America. 7 On 13 June 2004 a formal application for financial assistance was completed and lodged with the respondent. That application disclosed that the applicant was at risk of deportation to Afghanistan and potential execution because of an allegation that he had been in charge of a secret police organisation whilst he was living in Afghanistan. The application disclosed a costs estimate of $115,500 including an allowance of $12,000 for four overseas witnesses. It also asserted that the applicant spent the last of his funds on previous solicitors and counsel, and in consequence was unable to afford representation at the re-hearing before the AAT. 8 By letter dated 15 September 2004 the respondent's delegate refused the application for financial assistance. A document styled 'Reasons for Decision - Application for Grant of Financial Assistance' was given to the applicant. The 'Reasons for Decision' took the form of recommendations made to, and accepted by, the delegate. The parties agreed that the delegate accepted the recommendations for the reasons stated: cf Brehoi v Attorney-General for the Commonwealth [2000] FCA 1747 at [43]. The Reasons for Decision were forwarded to the applicant's solicitors under cover of a letter dated 15 September 2004, which included the following: 'After careful consideration of your client's matter, I have refused the application for financial assistance on the basis that it is not reasonable in all the circumstances to grant assistance as there is no demonstrated public benefit. A copy of the decision note is attached.' (emphasis added) 9 By letter dated 28 October 2004 the applicant requested a review of the subject decision (in part) on the grounds that the Attorney-General had not properly considered or given sufficient weight as to whether there is a 'public interest' or 'benefit to the public' in providing funds to enable the matter to be properly and expeditiously heard. The letter included the following: 'Specifically we suggest that there is considerable benefit to the public and public interest in ensuring that in circumstances where the Minister adopted an approach to the hearing at first instance which denied the applicant procedural fairness and natural justice, ultimately giving rise to a need for a re-hearing, that in itself ought to be considered sufficient. The general interest the public has in ensuring that persons are given proper access to the legal system particularly where, as in this instance, the applicant spent considerable sums of money on what the Federal Court considered to be a flawed hearing.' 10 On 8 November 2004 the respondent's delegate affirmed the original decision and refused the application for financial assistance. The covering letter forwarding a copy of the Decision Note included the following: 'After careful consideration of your client's matter, I have affirmed the decision of the delegate, Ms Amanda Bush, to refuse a grant of financial assistance on the basis that there is no demonstrated public benefit.' (emphasis added) That letter was signed by the delegate who refused the application. Again, it was common ground that the delegate accepted the recommendations recorded in the Decision Note for the reasons stated therein.