Azimitabar v Commonwealth of Australia [2024] FCAFC 52

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Azimitabar v Commonwealth of Australia [2024] FCAFC 52 Appeal from: Azimitabar v Commonwealth of Australia [2023] FCA 760

File number(s): VID 604 of 2023

Judgment of: RANGIAH, ANDERSON AND BUTTON JJ

Date of judgment: 26 April 2024

Catchwords: MIGRATION – appeal from a decision of a single judge of the Federal Court of Australia dismissing an application for damages arising from the alleged unlawful detention of the appellant at the Mantra Bell City Hotel and the Park Hotel (the Hotels) – whether subpara (b)(v) of the definition of "immigration detention" in s 5(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the Act) impliedly confers a power on the Minister to approve "another place" of immigration detention – whether the Hotels were validly approved by the Minister as "another place" of immigration detention – whether the construction of subpara (b)(v) is limited by s 273 of the Act which contains an express power to establish detention centres – where appellant sought leave to rely on an argument not raised before the primary judge – leave refused as new ground lacks sufficient prospects of success to warrant leave being granted – whether lawfulness of immigration detention is conditional upon proper authorisation of the expenditure on the place of detention – where authorisation of the Hotels as "another place" of immigration detention did not depend on lawfulness of associated expenditure – appeal dismissed

Legislation: Constitution ss 51, 61 Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997 (Cth) s 32B Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ss 5, 6A, 189, 196, 198B, 198C, 272, 273, 495, 496 Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 (Cth) Sch 1AAA, items 417.017, 417.018