Proposed Ground 2
50 Ground 2 in the application for leave to appeal and in the proposed notice of appeal may be considered together.
51 Before the primary judge, the applicant confirmed that he was represented by a migration agent before the Tribunal and that he had nominated that agent as the person to whom the Tribunal should send correspondence. Accordingly, the migration agent was the applicant's authorised recipient for the purposes of s 379G(1)(b) of the Act. That provision required the Tribunal to send documents in connection with the review to the migration agent (s 379G(1)). In doing so, the Tribunal was taken to have given those documents to the applicant (s 379G(2)). Moreover, the migration agent was not to be merely an additional receipient, but "the authorised recipient, instead of the applicant" (s 379G(1)).
52 On 22 August 2013, the Tribunal sent a hearing invitation to the applicant's migration agent (see its reasons at [7]). The hearing was scheduled to take place on 3 October 2013. The method of communication used by the Tribunal is not identified in its reasons for decision. Further, a copy of the hearing invitation was not in evidence before the primary judge. But nevertheless, no arguable error of the primary judge is established in this context. There is no evidence that the hearing invitation was not sent by one of the accepted means of communication. Alternatively expressed, the applicant in the proceedings before the primary judge adduced no evidence that the relevant communication had not been sent to, or had not been received by, the migration agent or that an authorised mode of communication had not been followed.
53 The primary judge was entitled to proceed on the presumption that all conditions necessary for the Tribunal to exercise its power to proceed to carry out the review under s 362B(1) of the Act, in the circumstances of the applicant's non-attendance, had been satisfied. Section 362B provides:
362B Failure of applicant to appear before Tribunal
(1) If the applicant:
(a) is invited under section 360 to appear before the Tribunal; and
(b) does not appear before the Tribunal on the day on which, or at the time and place at which, the applicant is scheduled to appear;
the Tribunal may make a decision on the review without taking any further action to allow or enable the applicant to appear before it.
(2) This section does not prevent the Tribunal from rescheduling the applicant's appearance before it, or from delaying its decision on the review in order to enable the applicant's appearance before it as rescheduled.
54 In terms of the conditions that would need to be satisfied in order for there to be a decision made by the Tribunal relying upon s 362B, reference should be made to ss 360 and 360A, which provide:
360 Tribunal must invite applicant to appear
(1) The Tribunal must invite the applicant to appear before the Tribunal to give evidence and present arguments relating to the issues arising in relation to the decision under review.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if:
(a) the Tribunal considers that it should decide the review in the applicant's favour on the basis of the material before it; or
(b) the applicant consents to the Tribunal deciding the review without the applicant appearing before it; or
(c) subsection 359C(1) or (2) applies to the applicant.
(3) If any of the paragraphs in subsection (2) of this section apply, the applicant is not entitled to appear before the Tribunal.
360A Notice of invitation to appear
(1) If the applicant is invited to appear before the Tribunal, the Tribunal must give the applicant notice of the day on which, and the time and place at which, the applicant is scheduled to appear.
(2) The notice must be given to the applicant:
(a) except where paragraph (b) applies - by one of the methods specified in section 379A; or
(b) if the applicant is in immigration detention - by a method prescribed for the purposes of giving documents to such a person.
(4) The period of notice given must be at least the prescribed period or, if no period is prescribed, a reasonable period.
(5) The notice must contain a statement of the effect of section 362B.
55 There are two pre-conditions in s 362B(1). There is no doubt that s 362B(1)(b) was satisfied. The question is whether her Honour was entitled to proceed on the basis that s 362B(1)(a) had been satisfied. In terms of satisfaction of s 360(1) in general, the Tribunal at [7] had stated that a hearing invitation had been given. In terms of the precise elements of s 360A, compliance with s 360A(1) is confirmed by the Tribunal at [7]. Further, compliance with s 360A(5) is confirmed by the Tribunal at [7] in substance ("The review applicant was advised that if he did not attend the hearing and a postponement was not granted, the Tribunal may make a decision on his case without further notice"). As for the notice period referred to in s 360A(4), the timeframe between 22 August 2013 and 3 October 2013 exceeded the applicable prescribed 14 days (reg 4.21(4) of the Regulations).
56 There was no direct evidence or reference in the Tribunal's reasons, however, as to the precise mode of communication under s 379A. But in my view, the observations of McHugh JA (as he then was) in Minister for Natural Resources v NSW Aboriginal Land Council (1987) 9 NSWLR 154 at 164 are apposite:
"Where a public official or authority purports to exercise a power or to do an act in the course of his or its duties, a presumption arises that all conditions necessary to the exercise of that power or the doing of that act have been fulfilled."
His Honour's observations illuminate the well-known maxim omnia praesumuntur rite et solemniter esse acta donec probetur in contrarium and have been applied, for example, in Minister for Home Affairs v Tervonen (2008) 166 FCR 91 at [69] and Commonwealth v Anti-Discrimination Tribunal (Tasmania) (2008) 169 FCR 85 at [261]. Her Honour was entitled to proceed on the basis that s 379A had been satisfied. Moreover, receipt by the migration agent is then deemed to have occurred by reason of the operation of s 379C. Further, the fact that the migration agent may not have informed the applicant of the receipt of any correspondence from the Tribunal does not alter the effect of s 379C. And nor was there any evidence before her Honour or assertion made to the effect that the migration agent had not received the invitation.
57 Further, and relatedly, the Minister was not required to adduce positive evidence demonstrating that each of the elements of ss 360A and 379A had been complied with in terms of the content and mode of communication from the Tribunal to the applicant. There was no burden upon the Minister to demonstrate such facts (see the observations of Gummow J in Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v SZGUR (2011) 241 CLR 594 at [67]-[69]). The primary judge's reasons do not demonstrate any error. As I say, in circumstances where the applicant had been invited under s 360(1) to appear before the Tribunal but did not appear, the Tribunal was entitled pursuant to s 362B(1) to make a decision on the review without taking any further action to enable the applicant to appear before it. It was under no obligation to communicate with the applicant or his migration agent to enquire as to the reasons for his non-appearance or to ensure that he appeared. In summary, there is no arguable error demonstrated in relation to the primary judge's consideration of this issue.
58 For completeness, I did enquire of the Minister on 8 August 2014 as to what precise evidence he had concerning the mode of communication of the hearing invitation to the migration agent. The Minister's counsel informed me that his instructor had a copy of the invitation, which had been obtained from the Tribunal, showing that it was sent by fax to the last fax number provided by the applicant to the Tribunal. That material was not in evidence before her Honour and I did not permit its tender before me.