Applicant S265/2003 v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 The applicant is a citizen of Pakistan who arrived in Australia on 24 January 1996. On 22 April 1996 the applicant lodged an application for a protection visa under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ('the Act'). A decision was made by a Ministerial delegate to reject that application on 26 July 1996 which decision was affirmed by the Refugee Review Tribunal ('the Tribunal') on 25 February 1998. The applicant sought review of that decision in the Federal Court and on 14 August 1998 the Court ordered by consent that the matter be remitted to the Tribunal to be determined according to law. On 28 April 1999 the Tribunal reaffirmed the Ministerial delegate's decision to refuse the applicant a protection visa. 2 The applicant subsequently applied for review of that second decision of the Tribunal in the Federal Court. His Honour, Justice Whitlam, dismissed that application at first instance on 20 August 1999 (Ahmed v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 1412), which judgment was upheld unanimously by the Full Federal Court on 18 February 2000 (Ahmed v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 123). 3 The applicant then apparently became a party to the proceedings in the High Court of Australia generally referred to as Muin v Refugee Review Tribunal and Lie v Refugee Review Tribunal (2002) 190 ALR 601 ('Muin and Lie'). On 4 June 2003 the applicant filed in the High Court of Australia a draft order nisi seeking constitutional writ relief in respect of the second decision of the Tribunal, together with an affidavit in support sworn by his former legal representative. Pursuant to orders made by Gaudron J, the proceedings were remitted to this Court. 4 By correspondence dated 12 November 2004, the District Registrar of the Court advised the applicant that the Court proposed to consider whether there is an arguable case for the making of an order nisi on the basis of the written material before the court. The applicant was invited to file written submissions, and did so on 22 December 2004. 5 I propose to deal with this application on the papers. 6 The draft order nisi raises the single ground that the Tribunal failed to accord the applicant procedural fairness. The applicant's written submissions raise the following grounds: