Mansour, Anthony v Minister for Immigration & Ethnic Affairs & Anor [1995] FCA 964

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA ) ) NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY ) No G 107 of 1995 ) GENERAL DIVISION ) BETWEEN: ANTHONY MANSOUR Applicant AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & ETHNIC AFFAIRS First Respondent AI LI XIAO Second Respondent Coram: Davies J. Date: 14 November 1995 Place: Sydney MINUTES OF ORDER THE COURT ORDERS THAT:- 1. The application be dismissed. 2. The applicant pay the respondents' costs of the proceedings. NOTE: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA ) ) NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY ) No G 107 of 1995 ) GENERAL DIVISION ) BETWEEN: ANTHONY MANSOUR Applicant AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & ETHNIC AFFAIRS First Respondent AI LI XIAO Second Respondent Coram: Davies J. Date: 14 November 1995 Place: Sydney REASONS FOR JUDGMENT This is a motion seeking dismissal of the proceedings on the basis that it was not competent for the applicant, Mr Anthony Mansour, to have instituted them. I should note that Mr Mansour did not appear on the hearing of the motion. The proceedings were instituted early in 1995 seeking review of a decision of the first respondent, the Minister for Immigration & Ethnic Affairs, to grant permission to the second respondent, who had been the wife of Mr Mansour, to remain permanently in Australia.

The jurisdiction of the Court that was invoked was the jurisdiction under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and s.39B of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth). The provisions of the Migration Act, under which the application for a visa was lodged by the second respondent, were amended by the Migration Reform Act 1992 which came into force on 1 September 1994. By the time the decision granting the permanent entry visa and resident return visa had been made on 20 January 1995, the provisions under the Migration Reform Act had commenced. It was the intent of the provisions of the Migration Reform Act that when the amendments came into force, the new provisions would apply to decisions made thereafter. Provision was made for the making of regulations to give effect to applications for visas which had been on foot prior to 1 September 1994. The Migration Reform (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 1994 were such regulations. It follows, in my opinion, that when the decision granting the visa was made on 20 January 1995, the provisions of the Migration Act 1958 as amended by the Migration Reform Act 1992 applied to the decision and to proceedings which were brought in relation to that decision. Section 475 of the Migration Act, as it was amended by the Migration Reform Act, defined "judicially-reviewable decisions" and also "non-judicially reviewable decisions".