Getting Rid of Risky Foreigners: Promoting Community Protection at the Expense of Administrative Justice?

This article offers a critical analysis of the norms, policy, procedures and outcomes associated with contemporary decision-making under the ‘character test’ per Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 501. Of late there has been a steep increase in the number of visa refusals and cancellations on adverse character grounds due to the convergence of a reformulated character test and single-minded, authoritarian, administration by ministerial office-holders. This article teases out the significant and, arguably, adverse consequences for the quality of administrative justice of ministerial control over visa decisions absent independent administrative review. It is argued that the integrity of ministerial decision-making and the legitimacy of outcomes are dubious. This is because the process of identifying and balancing the important countervailing community interests and individual (human) rights, in the course of reaching the preferable decision, does not appear to be carried out in a detached, proper and genuine manner, pursuant to rational and intelligible reasoning processes. In conclusion, when viewed holistically, the judicial decisions analysed in this article suggest that the unwavering pursuit of community protection has come at a significant adverse cost to administrative justice and, necessarily, to individuals/families who bear the harsh consequences.