Ground 1 - The Relationship between s 36(1C) and s 501 of the Act
9 By his first ground the applicant contended that it was not legally open to the Minister to conclude that he was a risk to the Australian community in circumstances where the Tribunal had previously determined that the applicant was not a "danger to the Australian community" under s 36(1C) of the Act.
10 This ground was initially propounded on the basis that, because the Tribunal had made a finding under s 36(1C) that the applicant was not a danger to the Australian community, the Minister was bound to come to the conclusion that the applicant was not a risk to the community when undertaking the statutory task under s 501(1) of Act. Following the hearing before me, the Full Court of the Federal Court handed down its judgment in Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs v EBD20 [2021] FCAFC 179 (Perram, Thawley and Stewart JJ).
11 The facts of EBD20 bear some resemblance to those relevantly here in play and the relevant legislative provisions are the same. In EBD20, the conclusion had been reached by the Tribunal under s 36(1C) that the applicant for a protection visa was not "a danger to the Australian community". In arriving at that conclusion the Tribunal in EBD20 considered the risks of the visa applicant reoffending. In the exercise of the Minister's discretion under s 501(1), the Minister in EBD20 also considered the risk of the visa applicant reoffending. The Minister's decision was challenged on three grounds, the second of which is most relevant here, that the Minister's decision was legally unreasonable because the reasons for the decision did not disclose an intelligible justification for rejecting the reasoning of the Tribunal and was thus inconsistent with the Tribunal's decision and reasons. The Full Court rejected that challenge concluding that the Minister's decision was not relevantly inconsistent with the Tribunal's decision and not legally unreasonable for that or any other demonstrated reason (at [61]). That was so because the Tribunal and the Minister were answering different inquiries (at [47], [55] and [57]). It was not irrational or inconsistent to decide under s 36(1C)(b) that there are not reasonable grounds for concluding that a person is "a danger to the Australian community", but nevertheless to reach the conclusion that the person presents a sufficient level of risk to warrant exercising the discretion under s 501(1) not to grant a visa (at [52] and [55]). The Full Court reached that conclusion despite recognising that the different inquires contained a common element, namely an assessment of the level of risk which the visa applicant posed (at [55]).
12 In a written submission addressing EBD20, the applicant accepted that the first ground in its amended originating application could not succeed in light of the Full Court's decision in EBD20. Accordingly, it is not necessary for me to deal with it. However, it is necessary to address a further issue which arose during oral argument and which was raised in the further written submissions filed by the applicant. That issue is whether on common questions of fact, findings of fact made by the Tribunal under s 36(1C) in the course an application for a protection visa must, absent changed circumstances, be accepted by the Minister in a subsequent exercise of power under s 501 of Act when dealing with the same application. The applicant contended that, at the very least, the Minister was bound not to depart from the Tribunal's factual findings without evident and intelligible justification. In summary, that was said to be so because, relying on the terms of s 65(1) of the Act, the applicant contended that s 36(1C) and s 501 are linked and part of a single process in which, absent changed circumstances or evident and intelligible justification, the scheme of the Act demands consistency in the factual findings made throughout that single decision-making process.
13 That question supplanted the question raised by the original ground 1 and has been the subject of further submissions provided by both parties. Insofar as leave to raise this point is required, I grant that leave.
14 I have proceeded on the basis that the applicant contends that by misunderstanding that the scheme of the Act demands the factual consistency for which the applicant contended, the Minister misunderstood or misconstrued what the exercise of the statutory power entailed and that there was a purported but not a real exercise of the power conferred by s 501(1): Graham v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2017) 263 CLR 1 at [68] (Kiefel CJ, Bell, Gageler, Keane, Nettle and Gordon JJ). However, legal unreasonableness seems also to be the basis upon which the applicant contends for a finding of jurisdictional error.
15 It is convenient to first outline the factual question which was common to both the Tribunal's determination as to whether the criterion for eligibility for a visa in s 36(1C) was satisfied and the discretion not to grant the visa under s 501(1). The question or issue which was common to both exercises was the extent of the risk of the applicant reoffending. In dealing with that common question the Tribunal and the Minister made disparate factual findings on precisely the same material.
16 To further explain, in the context of the applicant's prior offending having been influenced by alcohol as well as his association with anti-social individuals, the Tribunal considered the likelihood of the applicant reoffending and made two relevant factual findings as follows:
(i) that the applicant "has realised during his five years in detention that he needs to avoid alcohol and drugs, not mix with anti-social individuals and that he now appreciates his family and the privileges that living in Australia offers" (at [46]); and
(ii) that the applicant "has displayed, through his behaviour, his ability to avoid individuals with an anti-social influence, even in detention" (at [47]).
17 Those findings (as well as some others) supported a further finding made by the Tribunal (at [47]) that:
The Tribunal is satisfied that the Applicant is now empowered with a more mature skill set to deal with the very real challenges that he will be faced with. This is in light of the supportive network of family and associates that awaits the Applicant, the measured yet realistic plan he has for his own future and, as part of that, the positive benefit of his maturation, as specifically highlighted by Dr Zimmerman. In all the circumstances of this matter, the Tribunal is satisfied that the Applicant is not a danger to the Australian community.
18 In arriving at those findings the Tribunal relied on evidence of the applicant as well as that given by Dr Zimmerman. The Tribunal arrived at those findings appreciative, as it said at [42], "that the Applicant has had a limited number of months out in the community over the last decade or so and that he did reoffend while on parole".
19 The Minister in his reasons for decision at [64] - [67] addressed many of the same factual issues referred to above:
[64] I acknowledge that [the applicant] has made efforts towards rehabilitation and that he has expressed remorse for his behaviour. Whilst acknowledging [the applicant]'s rehabilitations efforts, I am nonetheless concerned that his ongoing rehabilitation is reliant on his abstinence from alcohol and avoiding associating with negative influences. I note that [the applicant]'s offending has occurred in the context of alcohol abuse. According to Dr Zimmerman, there is a possibility that [the applicant] could return to alcohol use should he find himself subjected to stressful situations in the future. Moreover, whilst Dr Zimmerman points out that [the applicant] has had no contact with the people that he previously associated with, I note that [the applicant] has either been detained or imprisoned since February 2014 and therefore his ability to remain distant from his previous friends, or to avoid negative influences in general, remains untested in the community Attachment O.
[65] I have taken into consideration that [the applicant] has applied for a Protection (Class XA) visa for the purpose of residing permanently in Australia. I have considered the risk of harm to the Australian community in the context of the permanent stay period and specific purposes of the visa application.
[66] I find that [the applicant] has not yet had the opportunity to test his ability to remain alcohol free in the community for any length of time and to refrain from associating with previous friends that may make him vulnerable to the negative influence of such associates, which he states was a major influence in his past offending.
[67] Having regard to all of the information before me, I find that there remains an ongoing risk that [the applicant] will reoffend. Should [the applicant] engage in further offending of a violent nature, it could cause significant physical harm and/or psychological injury to members of the Australian community.
20 It is clear from those passages that, contrary to the factual finding made by the Tribunal, the Minister did not accept that the applicant had an understanding that he needs to avoid alcohol and drugs and avoid associating with anti-social individuals or that he had an improved ability to do so.
21 Those findings were made in circumstances where the Minister's reasons (at [59]) state that the Minister considered the decision of the Tribunal and stated (at [60]):
The AAT took into account a number of factors to support its finding that [the applicant] did not constitute a danger to the Australian community, to which I have given due consideration. The AAT states that [the applicant] had changed his behaviour and had come to the realisation of the importance of family, particularly in relation to his son, and that he needed to make a positive contribution to the Australian community. The AAT also found that [the applicant]'s conduct since 2015 had been exemplary and that his evidence to the Tribunal had been 'compelling'. The AAT further notes that [the applicant] was not prevented from his continuing rehabilitation despite his period of detention and that he had abstained from alcohol and drug use. Moreover, [the applicant] had positive support from his family, community members and his mentor, Ms Susan Meyer that would aid his ongoing rehabilitation if he should be released into the community. Despite the findings of the AAT, I am nonetheless cognisant that [the applicant]'s conduct remains untested in the community Attachment P.
22 A fair reading of the Minister's reasons suggests that a significant reason or perhaps the reason for the difference between the factual findings made by the Tribunal and the Minister as to whether the applicant held an understanding that he needs to avoid drugs and alcohol and avoid associating with anti-social individuals as well as to whether he had the ability to do so, was the far greater reliance given by the Minister to the circumstance that the applicant's good conduct since 2015 had not occurred in the community and that therefore his "conduct remains untested".
23 I return then to the constructional issue and the submission of the applicant that s 36(1C) and s 501 form part of a single process in which, absent changed circumstances or intelligible justification, factual findings made in that process must be consistent. To consider that submission it is appropriate to commence by locating s 36(1C) and s 501 within the scheme of the Act.
24 The stated object of the Act is "to regulate, in the national interest, the coming into, and presence in, Australia of non-citizens": s 4(1). To advance its object, the Act provides for visas permitting non-citizens to enter or remain in Australia on the basis that "the Parliament intends that this Act be the only source of the right of non-citizens to so enter or remain": s 4(2). A "visa" is a grant of permission to a non-citizen to either travel to and enter Australia, to remain in Australia or to do both: s 29(1). A visa to remain in Australia may be a permanent visa or it may be a temporary visa: s 30. The Act provides for different classes of visas.
25 Subject to the Act and the regulations, a non-citizen who wants a visa must apply for a visa of a particular class: s 45(1). The requirements for a valid application are set out in s 46 and include that it be an application for a visa of a class specified in the application: s 46(1)(a).
26 It is then necessary to consider s 47. As Crennan, Bell, Gageler and Keane JJ stated in Plaintiff S297/2013 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2014) 255 CLR 179 at [32]:
Section 47 of the Act imposes on the Minister a duty to consider a valid application for a visa (s 47(1)), and a corresponding duty not to consider an application for a visa that is not a valid application (s 47(3)). The duty to consider a valid application continues, subject to exceptions, until the Minister grants or refuses to grant the visa (s 47(2)(b)) in the performance of a complementary duty imposed by s 65.
27 The "complementary duty" imposed by s 65(1) is a duty to consider a valid application for a visa and if satisfied as to the various criteria and other matters there specified, to grant the visa or, alternatively if not satisfied, to refuse to grant the visa.
28 Section 65(1) provides a framework which identifies each of the criteria or other matters the Minister is required to consider and be satisfied of in either granting or refusing an application for a visa. Section 65(1) relevantly provides:
Decision to grant or refuse to grant visa
(1) Subject to sections 84 and 86, after considering a valid application for a visa, the Minister:
(a) if satisfied that:
(i) the health criteria for it (if any) have been satisfied; and
(ii) the other criteria for it prescribed by this Act or the regulations have been satisfied; and
(iii) the grant of the visa is not prevented by section 40 (circumstances when granted), 91W (evidence of identity and bogus documents), 91WA (bogus documents and destroying identity documents), 91WB (applications for protection visas by members of same family unit), 500A (refusal or cancellation of temporary safe haven visas), 501 (special power to refuse or cancel) or any other provision of this Act or of any other law of the Commonwealth; and
(iv) any amount of visa application charge payable in relation to the application has been paid;
is to grant the visa; or
(b) if not so satisfied, is to refuse to grant the visa.
29 There are four components to s 65(1)(a). The first and second require satisfaction as to whether certain criteria have been met, the third that the grant of the visa is not prevented by the operation of various provisions of the Act or any other law of the Commonwealth and a fourth component requiring satisfaction that the applicable charge payable in relation to the visa application has been paid.
30 Section 36(1C) is part of the second component to which s 65(1)(a) refers. It is part of the criteria prescribed by the Act for a class of visa known as a protection visa (see s 35A). The criteria for a protection visa is set out in s 36 and includes s 36(1C):
Protection visas - criteria provided for by this Act
(1A) An applicant for a protection visa must satisfy:
(a) both of the criteria in subsections (1B) and (1C); and
(b) at least one of the criteria in subsection (2).
(1B) A criterion for a protection visa is that the applicant is not assessed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to be directly or indirectly a risk to security (within the meaning of section 4 of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979).
(1C) A criterion for a protection visa is that the applicant is not a person whom the Minister considers, on reasonable grounds:
(a) is a danger to Australia's security; or
(b) having been convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crime, is a danger to the Australian community.
Note: For paragraph (b), see section 5M.
31 In the third component of s 65(1)(a) reference is made to s 501 of the Act as a provision of the Act which the Minister must be satisfied the grant of the visa is not prevented by.
32 Section 501 relevantly provides:
501 Refusal or cancellation of visa on character grounds
Decision of Minister or delegate - natural justice applies
(1) The Minister may refuse to grant a visa to a person if the person does not satisfy the Minister that the person passes the character test.
…
(6) For the purposes of this section, a person does not pass the character test if:
(a) the person has a substantial criminal record (as defined by subsection (7)); or
(7) For the purposes of the character test, a person has a substantial criminal record if:
…
(c) the person has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more; or…
33 In relation to a single application for a visa, the operation of ss 36 and 501 may fairly be characterised as part of a single process in which the visa application is either granted or refused under s 65. As Crennan, Bell, Gageler and Keane JJ observed in Plaintiff S297, those observations having been endorsed in Hossain v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2018) 264 CLR 123 at [33] (Kiefel CJ, Gageler and Keane JJ), a visa application is either granted or refused under s 65. At [34] of Plaintiff S297 their Honours said this (emphasis added):
The decision to be made by the Minister in performance of the duty imposed by s 65 is binary: the Minister is to do one or other of two mutually exclusive legally operative acts - to grant the visa under s 65(1)(a), or to refuse to grant the visa under s 65(1)(b) - depending on the existence of one or other of two mutually exclusive states of affairs (or "jurisdictional facts" (31)) - the Minister's satisfaction of the matters set out in each of the sub-paragraphs of s 65(1)(a), or the Minister's non-satisfaction of one or more of those matters. The decision is not made, the duty is not performed, and the application is not determined, unless and until one or other of those legally operative acts occurs: that is to say, unless and until the Minister either grants the visa under s 65(1)(a) or refuses to grant the visa under s 65(1)(b). The Minister grants a visa by causing a record of it to be made (s 67).
34 In KDSP v Minister For Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services And Multicultural Affairs [2021] HCA 24; (2021) 392 ALR 186 Edelman J said at [53] that "(a) delegate of the Minister who is considering the grant of a visa under s 65 makes only one decision - a binary decision to grant (s 65(1)(a)) or to refuse to grant (s 65(1)(b)) a visa upon consideration of a valid application - not a series of stepped decisions". At [70] his Honour endorsed my own observation in KDSP v Minister For Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services And Multicultural Affairs (2020) 279 FCR 1 at [115] that the power to refuse a visa under s 501A (a relevantly analogous power to that in s 501) "is a step in the performance of the duty imposed by s 65".
35 The fact that a single ultimate decision is made under s 65 to either grant or to refuse a visa links the components of s 65 and supports those components being characterised as forming part of a single decision-making process.
36 The characterisation I consider to be appropriate is not merely a labelling exercise as the Minister's submissions would suggest. It reflects the fact that there is a connection of significance between the different tasks which s 65 calls for. Each task whilst different and distinct from the next is nevertheless linked by the fact that each will contribute to an ultimate decision to grant a particular application for a visa and may contribute to a refusal of that application, recognising that it may not be necessary for all of the tasks listed by s 65(1) to be performed for an application to be refused.
37 It is ordinarily the case that in a single-decisional process in which an application for relief of some kind is to be either granted or refused, the determined facts upon which that decision is based remain constant. That is so in relation to judicial and quasi-judicial decision-making as well as administrative decisions made pursuant to statute which require the decision-maker to make findings of fact. Not only is factual consistency of that kind a matter of good decision-making, factual consistency is demanded because factual inconsistency is likely to spell error.
38 That appreciation of the ordinary case or the ordinary requirement is informative of what the scheme of the Act contemplates in relation to the single decision that the Minister is obliged to make under s 65(1). However, the extent of assistance which may be drawn from the ordinary case is limited by the fact that whilst the decisional process required by s 65 may be fairly characterised as a single process, it is by no means wholly reflective of an ordinary decision-making process.
39 The extent to which the s 65 process is different to that of the ordinary or common process has, I think, a bearing upon the extent of factual consistency which it might be inferred the scheme of the Act demands.
40 A wide range of intermediate decisions are called for by the process under which an ultimate decision to grant or refuse a visa is made under s 65(1). The wide range of those intermediate decisions and the different and disparate nature of them is not necessarily foreign to what may be considered to be the ordinary case. Nevertheless, the extent of the range and the disparate nature of the considerations required, does have a tendency to diminish the extent of factual consistency which it may be inferred is required by the s 65 decisional-process.
41 The ordinary case involves a single decision-maker exercising independent judgment pursuant to a single and consistent procedure. Whilst the s 65 decisional process could be performed by a single decision-maker, the process allows for and thus contemplates the participation of not only multiple decision-makers but multiple kinds of decision-makers. In some cases the decision will be made by the Minister personally (see, for example, s 501A(5)), in others by his or her delegate and yet in other cases by a member of a tribunal, relevantly, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (see, for example, s 500). Further still, s 65 contemplates that the different intermediate decisions will be made by reference to different procedures. Some decisions will be first instance decisions, others may be decisions made upon a review. Some will be made consequent upon a hearing (see, for example, s 425), others on the papers. Some decisions require natural justice to be accorded to an applicant (see, for example, s 501A(2)), others not (see, for example, s 501A(3)) and still others require procedural fairness but only to a specified limited extent (see, for example, s 473DA).
42 Ordinarily, intermediate decisions in a single decision-making process are made at the same time. However, the s 65 decision-making process allows for a staged approach in which one intermediate decision may be made many months or possibly years from the next in circumstances where the relevant factual foundation for an application may have altered as between the various stages through which the application must travel.
43 All of those features tend against the idea that the scheme of the Act in relation to the functions required by s 65 insists upon absolute factual consistency being maintained across all of the functions required by that provision. Where a legitimate line is to be drawn is difficult to ascertain. It is I think correct to say, as the Minister's submissions accepted, that a level of factual consistency is required. The Minister accepted that, absent a change of factual circumstances, the scheme of the Act does not contemplate multiple findings on whether a person satisfies a criterion for a visa. The Minister gave by way of example the Department's previous findings in this case that the applicant was a person in respect of whom Australia owes non-refoulement obligations. A further example may be a finding that a person is a refugee within the meaning of s 5H of the Act.
44 The Minister, however, contended that at the lower level of fact finding on subsidiary issues, uniformity is not required by the scheme of the Act.
45 What the Minister meant by "lower level of fact finding on subsidiary issues" was not elaborated upon nor is it particularly clear. However, what underlines that contention is that not all factual findings made in the process of granting or refusing a visa must be consistent. Further, the importance of a fact to the intermediate decision made will bear upon whether or not the scheme of the Act requires factual uniformity with a prior intermediate decision.
46 Consistently with the submission made by the Minister, I accept that some level of factual consistency is required by the scheme of the Act across the different intermediate decisions required to be made in the process under which an ultimate decision to grant or refuse a visa is made under s 65(1). Factual consistency across decision-making within a single decisional process has intrinsic value. Factual inconsistency lacking evident or intelligible justification, will tend to bring the process into disrepute. Inconsistency on critical facts is more likely to undermine the decisional process than inconsistency on subsidiary facts. Inconsistency on subsidiary facts may be tolerated particularly where the multi-layered nature of the decisional process makes consistency difficult to achieve as a matter of practicality and efficiency. Bearing those matters in mind, the features of the Act earlier canvassed suggest to me that the factual consistency required by the scheme of the Act is driven by the importance of the fact in issue and likely to be confined to those facts which are critical to the intermediate decision in question. To draw the line there reflects, in my view, the proper balance to be struck between the scheme's intent to provide finality and consistency to the administrative decision-making required by s 65 and the need for the scheme to provide for functional decision-making which recognises the practicalities required to effectuate a multi-layered decisional process.
47 Surprisingly, the issue raised by this ground of appeal does not appear to have been addressed by prior authority. The parties referred to a large number of authorities: Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v Makasa (2021) 270 CLR 430; Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v SZMTA (2019) 264 CLR 421; Plaintiff S297/2013; Plaintiff M47/2012 v Director-General of Security (2012) 251 CLR 1; Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v SZMDS (2010) 240 CLR 611; KDSP v Minister For Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services And Multicultural Affairs [2021] HCA 24; (2021) 392 ALR 186; WKMZ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs and Another (2021) 285 FCR 463; EBD20; Minister for Home Affairs v Brown (2020) 275 FCR 188; BHL19 v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (2020) 277 FCR 420; KDSP v Minister For Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services And Multicultural Affairs (2020) 279 FCR 1; Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs and Another v BFW20 by his Litigation Representative BFW20A (2020) 279 FCR 475; Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v Sabharwal [2018] FCAFC 160; Plaintiff S111 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2018) 263 FCR 310; BCR16 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2017) 248 FCR 456; Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v Stretton (2016) 237 FCR 1; Ibrahim v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs [2000] FCA 1309; (2000) 63 ALD 37; WZATX v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs [2020] FCA 1262; BFM16 v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs [2021] FCA 312; EPU19 v Minister for Home Affairs [2020] FCA 541; SZLDG v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (2008) 166 FCR 230; Segal v Waverly Council (2005) 64 NSWLR 177; Navarette v Minister for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2004] FCA 1723; Soboleva v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2001) 113 FCR 353; Nejad v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1997) 79 FCR 153; Re WKCG and Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2009] AATA 512; (2009) 110 ALD 434. None deal squarely with construing the scheme of the Act relating to s 65(1) and the extent of factual consistency required.
48 If I have correctly construed the scheme of the Act in relation to the decisional process required by s 65(1), the Minister will only have misconstrued his power under s 501(1) if the facts found by the Minister inconsistent with those found by the Tribunal are critical to the Minister's decision to refuse the visa.
49 The relevant facts found by the Tribunal but which the Minister did not accept were that the applicant had an understanding that he needs to avoid alcohol and drugs and avoid associating with anti-social individuals and that he had an improved ability to do so (outlined at [16] above). Those facts are relevant to the finding made by the Minister at [67] of the Minister's reasons that "there remains an ongoing risk that [the applicant] will reoffend". That finding was then supplemented by other relevant findings at [121] where the Minister said:
I find that the Australian community could be exposed to significant harm should [the applicant] reoffend in a similar fashion. I could not rule out the possibility of further offending by [the applicant]. The Australian community should not tolerate any further risk of harm.
50 That a risk of significant harm to the Australian community was critical to the decision made by the Minister to refuse the visa cannot be doubted in light of the Minister's statement at [124] that:
In reaching my decision, I concluded that the above considerations favouring non-refusal are outweighed by the risk of harm posed to the Australian community and the expectations of the Australian community in this case.
51 However, in my view, the factual findings as to the applicant's understanding of the need to avoid alcohol and drugs and avoid associating with anti-social individuals and his ability to do that, were not critical to the finding made by the Minister that there remains an ongoing risk of harm. The nature of the risk contemplated by that finding is important to the analysis. As [121] of the Minister's reasons makes clear, the risk in question as the Minister saw it was based upon the "possibility" rather than the probability or likelihood of the applicant reoffending. Even if the risk contemplated by the finding is construed as based upon a real possibility rather than a mere possibility, that which the Minister "could not rule out" is almost impossible to rule out in relation any person let alone to a person with a history of offending such as that of the applicant. The reasonableness of the Minister's requirement that the possibility of the applicant reoffending need be ruled out, is not here challenged. In the context of the Minister imposing that very high (if not impossible) hurdle, the fact that the Minister was not prepared to find that the applicant had an understanding that he needs to avoid alcohol and drugs and to avoid associating with anti-social individuals, or that he had an improved ability to do so, was not critical to the Minister finding that he could not rule out the possibility of the applicant further offending and thus posing an ongoing risk of harm to the Australian community.
52 Whilst I hold concerns about the fairness of the outcome, it is not the task of this Court to review the merits of the Minister's decision. For the reasons given above, the Minister did not misconstrue the scheme of the Act in relation to the fact-finding task required of him. Nor, turning to legal unreasonableness, is jurisdictional error made out. If the scheme of the Act does not require factual consistency in relation to non-critical facts, whilst the inconsistency between the facts found by the Tribunal and the contrary facts found by the Minister may raise unfairness, they do not spell irrationality of the kind required to found a conclusion of legal unreasonableness: see Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v Li (2013) 249 CLR 332 at [64]-[76] (Hayne, Kiefel and Bell JJ); BHL19 at [327]-[330] (Bromwich J) and [129]-[146] (Wigney J); Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v Stretton (2016) 237 FCR 1 at [8]-[13] (Allsop CJ)).