High court ruling casts doubt on hundreds of Australian visa refusals

Majority of judges find that bureaucrats cannot decide whether the minister should consider intervening, as department policy dictates

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Hundreds of visa decisions have been thrown into question by a high court ruling that the government cannot “circumvent” the law by setting policies limiting which cases will be considered by the minister.

On Wednesday, a majority of the high court ruled in favour of two appellants who were unable to have their visa refusals overturned due to a home affairs department policy stating the immigration minister would not consider personal intervention unless the department believed that there were “unique or exceptional circumstances”.

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