High Court - fairness in offshore processing

The High Court has today found that some asylum seekers being held in offshore detention will have rights of judicial review (i.e. only if there is an error of law).

The case is going to have huge political ramifications as one of the purposes for offshore processing is that it (was thought until today) that applicants had no recourse to the Court system.

The actual case is at:
Plaintiff M61/2010E v Commonwealth of Australia
Plaintiff M69 of 2010 v Commonwealth of Australia
[2010] HCA 41

Although it might be easier to read what some of the media are saying about it:

• News.com.au
• Sydney Morning Herald
• ABC
• The Australian
• Uniting Church

Another example of the separation of powers in action - no wonder the government hates it!

Creative commons attribution for the photograph.

Federal Magistrate's Court

It was announced today by the Attorney General that the Federal Magistrate's Court ("FMC") is being abolished. When the FMC was established in 1999 it's purpose was to provide an accessible and simpler alternative to the Federal Court of Australia. Now the government has decided that it is too expensive to maintain two courts and a revamped Federal Court will now have two tiers - with judges and magistrates (who will deal with the less complex matters).

This now means that most judicial review of migration decisions will be back in the Federal Court of Australia, but will be determined by the magistrates (who were previously part of the FMC). This is a classic case of the old is new again.

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/citizensheep/518034349/sizes/s/