New HCA Judgments

Two new judgments were published today. We'll have the summaries up soon but for now:

Saeed v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2010] HCA 23

This case concerns the construction of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). Specifically it considers whether a provision of the Act which purports to restrict the requirements of natural justice apply to other provisions of the Act which provide for the granting of visas while the applicant is not in Australia. The Court gives consideration to the scope and content of the common law natural justice hearing rule, as well as the presumption of statutory interpretation which avoids its abrogation. The Court concludes that the Act does not restrict the rules of natural justice for visa applicants who are not in Australia when making the application and allows the appeal.

Osland v Secretary to the Department of Justice [2010] HCA 24

This case concerns Marjorie Osland, who was convicted of murdering her abusive husband back in 1996. She made a petition for Mercy to the Government of Victoria in 1999 but it was denied for reasons that included reliance on legal advice. Ever since, she has been seeking to get access to the documentation on which the AG relied through Freedom of Information legislation. She was successful in a previous appeal to the High Court relating to the documentation, and the case was remitted to the Supreme Court. Today she was again successful in her appeal. The case does not concentrate on the construction of the FOI Act, but rather on the nature of the Supreme Court’s role when hearing a remitted case, and the effect of a successful appeal to the High Court on discrete issues.