Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs v Parata [2021] FCAFC 46

Federal Court of Australia

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs v Parata [2021] FCAFC 46 Appeal from: Parata v Minister for Home Affairs & Anor [2020] FCCA 1582

File number: VID 461 of 2020

Judgment of: CHARLESWORTH, BURLEY and JACKSON JJ

Date of judgment: 31 March 2021

Catchwords: MIGRATION – Administrative Appeals Tribunal refusing to decide an application for merits review of a migration decision under s 348 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) on the grounds that the application had not been "properly made" – Tribunal finding that application was made after the prescribed statutory time limit expired – Tribunal finding the application was not accompanied by the prescribed fee – Tribunal calculating the time limit from the date upon which the appellant received a notice of the reviewable decision purportedly given under s 127 of the Act – notice given to the appellant did not specify whether the decision was reviewable under Pt 5 or Pt 7 of the Act as required by s 127 – whether the giving of the defective notice operated to set the statutory time frame running – whether the legal operation of the notice depended upon the defect in the notice having no material bearing on the appellant's failure to comply with the requirements for a valid review application – whether an application for review may validly be made before the statutory time frame begins to run – Tribunal's finding that the time to apply for review had expired affected by jurisdictional error – judgment of primary judge upheld – no occasion to determine a notice of contention in respect of the non-payment of the prescribed fee as the time for payment of the fee has not yet expired