The majority of judges believe that bureaucrats are unsure if the minister must intervene, as dictated in the department policy.
Hundreds of visa decisions are now being questioned after the high court ruled that the government cannot circumvent the law by establishing policies to limit the types of cases the minister can consider.
The majority of the high court passed a ruling in the favour of two individuals whose visa applications were refused because of a Home Affairs policy that kept the immigration minister from intervening unless the circumstances were unique or exceptional.
The ruling stated that the minister couldn’t overlook statutory limitation by wrongfully using executive power, which helps in concluding the consideration of the public interest attempted by a departmental officer.
The high court also stated that the statutory restriction on executive power had been violated by the 2016 ministerial instructions and two questionable departmental decisions.
What’s important to note is Justice Michelle Gordon agreed with the court ruling but added that the minister should still have the freedom to consider cases with procedural decisions to intervene in situations under specific circumstances.
On the other hand, Justice Jayne Jagot stated that departmental officers were wrong to process requests according to the 2016 instructions, which meant they had to determine public interest without referring to the minister.
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