Fattah v Minister for Home Affairs [2019] FCAFC 31

Procedural Posture

Migration Appeal From Federal Circuit Court Judicial Review Decision / Appeal From Fattah V Minister for Home Affairs [2018] FCCA 2010 Dismissed by the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia

Legal Issues

1. 1 ['Whether Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) r 2.43(1)(p)(ii) applies only where the visa holder was charged with an offence while holding a Bridging E visa.' "Whether the Tribunal's exercise of discretion to cancel the Bridging E visa was legally unreasonable or irrational." 'Whether the Tribunal misunderstood the power it was exercising by treating cancellation as mandatory rather than discretionary.']

Ratio Decidendi

The appeal failed because r 2.43(1)(p)(ii) contains no temporal limitation requiring the charge to have been laid while the person held the Bridging E visa; the Tribunal's conclusion that the Appellant posed a possible risk to the Australian community had an intelligible and logical basis in the seriousness of the charges and the strict bail conditions; the Tribunal did not impermissibly discount supporting witnesses on the basis of ethnicity; and, read as a whole, the Tribunal's reasons showed that it weighed all circumstances and did not treat cancellation as mandatory.

Court Disposition

Appeal dismissed with costs.

Orders

• ['The appeal be dismissed.' "The Appellant pay the First Respondent's costs as taxed or agreed."]