Eshchenko v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
[2005] FCA 1772
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Federal Court of Australia
Decision date
2005-12-06
Before
Commission J, Graham J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (17 paragraphs)
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 Leonid Eshchenko and Ruslan Eshchenko are father and son. By letters dated 20 May 2005 notices were sent by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs to each of the Messrs Eshchenko indicating that it had come to the attention of the Department that their respective applications for visas may be liable for refusal by the Minister under s 501(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ("the Act"). In each case the relevant grounds were specified as s 501(6)(b) and 501(6)(c)(ii) of the Act. 2 Section 501(1) of the Act provides:- "501(1) The Minster may refuse to grant a visa to a person if the person does not satisfy the Minister that the person passes the character test." 3 The character test is set out in s 501(6) of the Act which relevantly provides:- "501(6) For the purposes of this section, a person does not pass the character test if: … (b) the person has or has had an association with someone else, or with a group or organisation, whom the Minister reasonably suspects has been or is involved in criminal conduct; or (c) having regard to … the following: … (ii) the person's past and present general conduct; the person is not of good character; or … Otherwise, the person passes the character test." 4 In respect of Mr Ruslan Eshchenko the relevant letter included the following:- "… Matters to be taken into account include the following: → His association with a group or organisation whom the Minister reasonable (sic) suspects has been or is involved in criminal conduct → Information which is protected under s503A of the Migration Act 1958 which cannot be released to him" 5 In the letter to Mr Leonid Eshchenko the same two matters were identified as the second and third matters which might be taken into account. In his case the first matter was: " → His association with his son, Ruslan" 6 The author of the letters was Patricia Mary Needham, a Senior case officer in the Brisbane Character Unit in the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs who had principal responsibility within the Department for the management of the character assessment of the Messrs Eshchenko. As such she was an authorised migration officer within the meaning of s 503A of the Act. 7 On 26 July 2005 the current proceedings were instituted by Ruslan Eshchenko and Leonid Eshchenko by Applications under the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth) and the Act. The essential claim in the proceedings is that in the face of the threatened refusal of their visa applications each of the Applicants is entitled to be provided with "full particulars of the matters to be taken into account by the Respondent or her Delegate when considering to refuse the Applicant's visa application" and "a reasonable opportunity to respond to any such particulars". 8 Section 503A(1)-(2) of the Act provides as follows:- "503A(1) If information is communicated to an authorised migration officer by a gazetted agency on condition that it be treated as confidential information and the information is relevant to the exercise of a power under section 501, 501A, 501B or 501C: (a) the officer must not divulge or communicate the information to another person, except where: (i) the other person is the Minister or an authorised migration officer; and (ii) the information is divulged or communicated for the purposes of the exercise of a power under section 501, 501A, 501B or 501C; and (b) an authorised migration officer to whom information has been communicated in accordance with paragraph (a) or this paragraph must not divulge or communicate the information to another person, except where: (i) the other person is the Minister or an authorised migration officer; and (ii) the information is divulged or communicated for the purposes of the exercise of a power under section 501, 501A, 501B or 501C. (2) If: (a) information is communicated to an authorised migration officer by a gazetted agency on condition that it be treated as confidential information and the information is relevant to the exercise of a power under section 501, 501AQ, 501B or 501C; or (b) information is communicated to the Minister or an authorised migration officer in accordance with paragraph (1)(a) or (b); then: (c) the Minister or officer must not be required to divulge or communicate the information to a court, a tribunal, a parliament or parliamentary committee or any other body or person; and (d) if the information was communicated to an authorised migration officer - the officer must not give the information in evidence before a court, a tribunal, a parliament or parliamentary committee or any other body or person." 9 "Divulge or communicate the information to another person" means divulge the information to another person or communicate the information to another person: see per Dixon CJ in Canadian Pacific Tobacco Company Limited v Stapleton ("Canadian Pacific") (1952) 86 CLR 1 at 6. 10 Each of s 503A(1) and s 503A(2) deals with a situation where: · information has been communicated by an authorised migration officer to an authorised migration officer · by a gazetted agency (an expression which is defined in s 503A(9)) · on condition that it be treated as confidential information, and · the information is relevant to the exercise of a power under s 501, 501A, 501B or 501C of the Act or: · such information has been divulged or communicated by an authorised migration officer to the Minister or another authorised migration officer, and · the information has been so divulged or communicated for the purposes of the exercise of a power under s 501, 501A, 501B or 501C of the Act. 11 Section 503A(1) of the Act restricts the circumstances in which an authorised migration officer, to whom the information has been communicated, may "divulge or communicate" such information "to another person". Section 503A(2)(d) precludes an officer to whom the information has been communicated from giving the information in evidence before a court (cf Canadian Pacific at 6; Hilton v Wells (1985) 157 CLR 57 at 76; Von Snarksi v Criminal Justice Commission (1998) 1 QdR 562 at 563; Kizon v Palmer (1997) 72 FCR 409 at 430). 12 Section 503A(2)(c) proscribes the imposition of any requirement upon the Minister or an authorised migration officer to "divulge or communicate" the information to a court. 13 Similar restraints are imposed by s 503D of the Act in respect of disclosure of the name of the gazetted agency providing the information and the conditions on which the communication of the information by the agency occurred, as if such details were such information. 14 Sections 503B, 503C and 503D were inserted into the Act by the Migration Legislation Amendment (Protected Information) Act 2003 (Cth). 15 On 12 December 2002 the then Minister delivered his Second Reading Speech in respect of the Migration Legislation Amendment (Protected Information) Bill 2002. At that time the Minister tabled an Explanatory Memorandum. On 17 June 2003 a revised Explanatory Memorandum relating to the Migration Legislation Amendment (Protected Information) Bill 2003 was tabled in the Senate and leave was granted to incorporate the Second Reading Speeches in Hansard. These included (Hansard 17 June 2003 at p11,667):- "Currently, section 503A of the act protects information that is communicated to an 'authorised migration officer' by a 'gazetted agency' where that information is: Communicated on the condition that it be treated as confidential; and Is relevant to the making of a decision to refuse or to cancel a visa on character grounds. This existing statutory scheme of protection does not extend to protect the information where a non-citizen commences proceedings in the Federal Court, or the Federal Magistrates Court, to review a character decision. In such circumstances, my department must rely on a claim of public interest immunity to protect the information from disclosure. If the court does not uphold the claim to immunity, then the information must be disclosed. Any such disclosure would certainly put at risk the continued provision of this information in the future. In some instances, it may even endanger the lives of sources. The amendments in this bill ensure the protection of information where character decisions are challenged in court proceedings. If a person commences court proceedings challenging an adverse character decision, then the amendments will: Limit the circumstances in which section 503A protected information can be disclosed to the Federal Court, or the Federal Magistrates Court; Enable the Federal Court and the Federal Magistrates Court to use interim and permanent non-disclosure orders to protect information that is disclosed to them; Set out specific criteria to which the Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Court must have regard when considering the making of a permanent non-disclosure order; Allow these courts to revoke or vary its non-disclosure orders but only with the consent of both parties to the substantive proceedings; Make it an offence, punishable by two years' imprisonment, for anyone to engage in conduct that contravenes a non-disclosure order; Make it clear that the minister's power to make a declaration authorising the disclosure of confidential information under subsection 503A(3) of the act is a non-compellable power, and provide that the Federal Court and the Federal Magistrates Court have no power to review a decision by the minister not to exercise, or not to consider the exercise, of the power. This will provide more effective protection for confidential information and will complement broader national and international strategies to counter major and transnational crime, including terrorism. To add to these measures, the bill also contains amendments to ensure that section 503A operates as originally intended. These amendments: Protect the source of confidential information (that is, the name of the gazetted agency) and any conditions on which the gazetted agency provides this information; Define gazetted agency in a way that ensures that the providers of confidential information are appropriately specified in the gazette notice; and Make it clear that information protected from disclosure under section 503A of the act is also exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. In summary, I believe that these amendments protect the national interest, by ensuring that intelligence and law enforcement agencies can continue to have confidence in Australia's ability and willingness to protect their information. These amendments are particularly relevant given the current security environment where it is vital that information provided by national security agencies is protected."