INTRODUCTION

SECTION I

The grounds of review

Review of facts
Review of process

SECTION II

A closer look at certain grounds of review

Unreasonableness
Relevant/irrelevant considerations
Error of law
Jurisdictional error
Procedural fairness (including probative evidence)

Introduction

4.1
In this Part, the Council will examine the reasons why, in certain
areas, the nature of the grounds of review themselves might encourage
limitations on the scope of judicial review.

SECTION
I

The grounds of review

4.2
Notwithstanding the measures taken by the courts to maintain a boundary
between merits and judicial review, it is one which is not always easy to
maintain. The nature of particular grounds of review highlights this tension.
As a result, a number of the grounds of review have become a significant factor
for government and courts in seeking to permit, exclude or limit the scope of
judicial review.

4.3
The Council considers that it would be useful to undertake a brief
analysis of those grounds. The response of courts, administrators and others
to the issues raised in relation to such grounds may well be of assistance,
in a broad sense, in identifying policy guidelines for the scope of judicial
review and, more narrowly, to the determination of the extent to which those
grounds should apply in particular situations.

Review of facts

4.4
A controversial aspect, recognised by both the courts, administrators
and others is the open texture of a number of the grounds of review and the
extent to which they provide courts with the potential to engage in a
subjective reconsideration of the facts (i.e. the merits) of a case.[1]

4.5
As stated, the tension between fact and law is a key factor in
determining the margins of judicial and merits review.

4.6
On the role of primary decision-makers and tribunals, it has been said
that:

Findings of fact are traditionally the domain where a
deciding authority or tribunal is master in its own house. Provided only that
it stays within its jurisdiction, its findings are in general exempt from
review by the courts, which will in any case respect the decision of the body
that saw and heard the witness or took evidence directly.[2]

4.7
However, there is a strong perception that with the assistance of certain
grounds of review, the Federal Court has engaged in merits review, particularly
in its response to applications for judicial review on the basis of error of
law:[3]

Judicial review’s professed indifference to the substantive
merits of the impugned decision is not always convincing, and not ultimately
reconcilable with some of the grounds of review.[4]

4.8
In so far as they focus the attention of the courts on significant
errors of fact or reasoning relied upon by a decision-maker in support of a
decision, such grounds:

…have a greater tendency than others to blur the line
between the legality and the merits of a decision, and provide tools by which a
court can re-examine aspects of the merits of a decision.[5]

4.9
Grounds with this potential include:

·
unreasonableness;

·
the no evidence rule;

·
failure to take into account relevant considerations and taking
account of irrelevant considerations;

·
jurisdictional error;

·
the jurisdictional fact doctrine; and

·
procedural fairness (including the probative evidence rule,
adverse factual material).[6]

Review of process

4.10       Another
aspect of the grounds of review which has provoked comment has been the extent
to which judicial review may frustrate principles of simplicity, cost and time
efficiency by focussing too greatly on the procedures by which a merits review
decision is arrived at.

4.11       The
ground of procedural fairness is as subjective, and arguably more so, than the
grounds of review referred to above. Was an applicant provided with a
sufficient opportunity to present their case? Was a decision-maker actually
prejudiced or, in the case of apprehended bias, has there been conduct or some
event involving the decision-maker that might undermine public confidence in
the administrative process?

4.12       Although:

The authorities show that natural justice does not require
the inflexible application of a fixed body of rules; it requires fairness in
all the circumstances, which include the nature of the jurisdiction or power
exercised and the statutory provisions governing its exercise.[7]

and:

There are…no words which are of universal application to
every kind of enquiry and every kind of domestic tribunal. The requirements of
natural justice must depend on the circumstances of the case, the nature of the
inquiry, the rules under which the tribunal is acting, and the subject matter
being dealt with.[8]

4.13       Following
the decision of the High Court in Kioa v West,[9]
in which it was held that where the rules of procedural fairness operate,
applicants are entitled to be heard in respect of all matters that are crucial
or critical to the decision-making process, the ground presented
administrators with significant resource and logistical difficulties.[10]

SECTION II

A closer look at certain
grounds of review

4.14       The
Council believes that an appreciation of the scope and purpose of each of the
following grounds of review is useful in measuring their operation in the
context of merits and judicial review.

Unreasonableness[11]

4.15       This
ground rests on the premise that:

…when a discretionary power is statutorily conferred on a
repository, the power must be exercised reasonably, for the legislature is
taken to intend that the discretion be so exercised.[12]

4.16       Categories
of unreasonableness include:

·
that the decision was devoid of plausible justification[13]

·
the giving of excessive or inadequate weight to a consideration[14]

·
making an erroneous finding of fact on a point of importance[15]

·
failure to have proper regard to departmental policy or
representation[16]

·
the unnecessarily harsh effect of the decision[17]

·
failure to give genuine, proper and realistic consideration to a
matter including making adequate inquiry as to facts[18]

·
demonstrable inconsistency with other decisions;[19]and

·
discrimination without a rational distinction.[20]

4.17       ‘Unreasonableness’
is, accordingly, a broad head of judicial review, with the potential to stem
executive excess by filling gaps not covered by more specifically stated
grounds.[21]

 

4.18       The
ground ‘crystallised’ from the decision of Lord Greene MR in Associated
Provisional Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation.[22]
There it was restricted to capturing decisions so unreasonable that no
reasonable person could ever have come to them.[23]
The intention was not to capture administrative decisions regarded as ‘less
reasonable’ than those which the reviewer might have made.

 

4.19       In Australia,
the essentially circular language of the Wednesbury unreasonableness
test was rephrased in a number of cases.[24] Indeed, in the context
of migration decision-making, it has been remarked that by the end of the
1980s:

Some judges were very cautious, stressing that a mere
difference in opinion or a preference for a different result could not justify
a finding of unreasonableness. However others took a more interventionist and
critical approach…[25]

4.20       By
way of response to the expansive interpretation adopted by the courts in some
cases, unreasonableness was excluded as a ground of review under former Part 8
of the Migration Act on the basis that:[26]

It has long been recognised that this ground of review, if
not interpreted with great care and precision, will come close to a review of a
decision on the merits, especially where review on the merits is not available.[27]

4.21       Where
unreasonableness remains available as a ground of review, both the High Court
and the Federal Court have held that its scope must be limited. For instance,
the Federal Court has said that:

We must again stress the limited nature of judicial review
on the ground of unreasonableness. That ground is not available as a vehicle
to obtain the judgment of the court on matters that in the end are not
concerned with the legality of a decision but with contested views about its
wisdom or substantive fairness – judgments about matters of that nature are to
be made elsewhere by the community and its political representatives; the
concern of the court is only with the legality of decisions.[28]

4.22       Additionally,
the High Court has indicated that unreasonableness should not be equated with
irrationality and indeed, an unreasonable decision can be valid notwithstanding
that the underlying reasoning process was logically flawed.[29]

4.23       Further:

Someone who disagrees strongly with someone else’s process
of reasoning on an issue of fact may express such disagreement by describing
the reasoning as ‘illogical’ or ‘unreasonable’ or even ‘so unreasonable that no
reasonable person could adopt it.’ If these are merely emphatic ways of saying
that the reasoning is wrong, then they have no particular legal consequence.[30]

4.24       In
this case, it was also noted that:

…the fact that a decision involves an error of law does not
mean that it is unreasonable.[31]

and

…an unreasonable decision is one for which no logical basis
can be discerned.[32]

4.25       Nonetheless,
there is always the potential for expansion. The obligation has expanded over
time to become more onerous and open-ended.[33]

4.26       This
has occurred for instance in relation to the duty to conduct an adequate
inquiry, whereby a decision-maker may act unlawfully by not attempting to
obtain information ‘when it is obvious that material is readily available which
is centrally relevant to the decision to be made’[34]
or where the available material ‘contains some obvious omission or obscurity
that needs to be resolved before a decision is made’.[35]

Relevant/irrelevant considerations[36]

4.27       During
the 1980s, one of the bases frequently used for invalidating migration
decisions was the principle that the obligation of a decision-maker to give
consideration to relevant matters is an obligation to give ‘proper, genuine and
realistic consideration to the merits of the case’.[37]
Directed at discouraging the making of perfunctory declarations that all
relevant matters have been taken into account, in circumstances where a
decision appeared harsh or unwarranted, this ruling provided scope for courts
to be persuaded that the merits of the case had not been given appropriate
consideration.[38]

4.28       While
it could be construed as providing an unfettered discretion, where the statute
or grant of power is silent on the matters to be taken into account, the nature
of the statute may suggest some limits and it has been held that:

In a case…where relevant considerations are not specified,
it is largely for the decision-maker, in light of matters placed before him by
the parties, to determine which matters he regards as relevant and the
comparative importance to be accorded to matters which he so regards. The
ground of failure to take into account a relevant consideration will only be
made good if it is shown that the decision-maker has failed to take into
account a consideration which he was, in the circumstances bound to take into account
for there to be a valid exercise of the power to decide.[39]

4.29       In Minister
for Aboriginal Affairs v Peko-Wallsend Ltd,[40]
Mason J noted the following features of this and the related ground of taking
into account irrelevant considerations:

·
the ground of failure to take into account a relevant
consideration can only be made out if a decision-maker fails to take into
account a consideration which he or she is bound to take into account in making
that decision; and

·
what factors a decision-maker is bound to consider in making the
decision is determined by construction of the statute conferring the
discretion. If the statute expressly states the considerations to be taken
into account, it will often be necessary for the court to decide whether those
enumerated factors are exhaustive or merely inclusive. If the relevant factors
are not expressly stated, they must be determined by implication from the
subject matter, scope and purpose of the Act.

4.30       Although
both these decisions leave open the question as to what the decision-maker was
‘bound’ to do and what are the indications of obligation, thereby affording the
ground the capacity for use as a basis for de facto merits review,[41]
Australian courts have trodden a careful path in this regard. As also noted by
Mason J in Peko-Wallsend Ltd:

The limited role of a court reviewing the exercise of an
administrative discretion must constantly be borne in mind. It is not the
function of the court to substitute its own decision for that of the
administrator by exercising a discretion which the legislature has vested in
the administrator. Its role is to set limits on the exercise of that
discretion, and a decision made within those boundaries cannot be impugned.

It follows that in the absence of any statutory indication
of the weight to be given to various considerations, it is generally for the
decision-maker and not the court to determine the appropriate weight to be
given to the matters which are required to be taken into account in exercising
the statutory power.[42]

4.31       This
approach was supported by the High Court majority in Minister for
Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Yusuf,[43]
where it was pointed out that questions of fact material to the ultimate
decision are determinable by way of the subjective thought processes of the
decision-maker, not the objective or external assessment of the court.

Error of law

4.32       At
common law, errors of law must go to jurisdiction except in the case of
applications under the writ of certiorari, which covers non-jurisdictional
errors of law on the face of the record. At common law, the ground of error of
law on the face of the record has been severely restricted. However, empirical
work on this project has underlined how often the courts use this ground.[44]

4.33       The
distinction between errors of law on and off the record does not exist under
the AD(JR) Act, with both jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional errors being
reviewable on or off the record.[45] The only preconditions
to the statutory grounds are that the error goes to jurisdiction and must have
affected or possibly affected the outcome:

A decision does not ‘involve’ an error of law unless the
error is material to the decision in the sense that it contributes to it so
that, but for the error, the decision would have been, or might have been, different.[46]

4.34       There
is no error of law in making a wrong finding of fact.[47]
However, to the extent that the courts draw distinctions between matters of law
and fact, both the statutory and the common law grounds of review have the
potential to allow courts to move into areas of merits review that are,
arguably, more appropriately dealt with by tribunals.

4.35       Determining
what constitutes an error of law can be difficult:

No matter what the abstract definitions might be,
practitioners appreciate that what counts for an error of law in one field, or
even in one period, might not be so counted in a different field or period…

Lying behind any definition of error of law are assumptions
that there is a difference between the primary facts, materials, judicial
notice and experiential knowledge of the decision-maker on the one hand and the
application to those facts ‘as found’ of legal terms and standards on the other
hand.[48]

Jurisdictional error

4.36       Error
of law going to jurisdiction, or jurisdictional error, has become a key ground
of review in cases in which there has been recourse to the Constitutional writs
of prohibition and mandamus.[49] No distinction is made
for the purposes of jurisdictional error between errors of law and errors of
fact.

4.37       Craig
v South Australia[50] is authority for the
view that what constitutes a jurisdictional error of law is much wider for an
administrator or tribunal than for a court.

4.38       Despite
concern that judicial review ‘engage the practical realities of decision-making
and bear witness to a tolerance of non-critical error of law’,[51]
in Craig’s case, it was held that jurisdictional error exists where:

…an administrative tribunal falls into error of law which
causes it to identify a wrong issue, to ask itself a wrong question, to ignore
relevant material, to rely on irrelevant material or, at least in some
circumstances, to make an erroneous finding or reach a mistaken conclusion, and
the tribunal’s exercise or purported of power is thereby affected, it exceeds
its authority or powers.[52]

4.39       More
recently, in Yusuf, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ with the concurrence of
Gleeson CJ and Gaudron J have said that:

‘Jurisdictional error’ can thus be seen to embrace a number
of different kinds of error, the list of which, in the passage cited from Craig,
is not exhaustive. Those different kinds of error may well overlap. The
circumstances of a particular case may permit more than one characterisation of
the error identified, for example, as the decision-maker both asking the wrong
question and ignoring relevant material. What is important, however, is that
identifying a wrong issue, asking a wrong question, ignoring relevant material
or relying on irrelevant material in a way that affects the exercise of power
is to make an error of law. Further, doing so results in the decision-maker
exceeding the authority or powers given by the relevant statute. In other
words, if an error of those types is made, the decision-maker did not have
authority to make the decision that was made; he or she did not have jurisdiction
to make it.[53]

4.40       There
are other cases where grounds of review have been linked to an excess of
jurisdiction. In Re Refugee Tribunal; ex parte Aala,[54]
it was held that the Constitutional writs would apply where a decision was made
in breach of the rules of procedural fairness, as such a breach would represent
an excess of jurisdiction. As noted by Gaudron and Gummow JJ in that case:

 

If an officer of the Commonwealth exercising power
conferred by statute does not accord procedural fairness and if that statute
has not on its proper construction, relevantly (and validly) limited or
extinguished any obligation to accord procedural fairness, the officer exceeds
jurisdiction in a sense necessary to attract prohibition under section 75(v) of
the Constitution.[55]

4.41       So
too, in Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Eshetu,
Gummow J expressly linked unreasonableness to section 75(v) of the
Constitution.[56]

4.42       These
recent decisions indicate a tendency to adopt a wider not a narrower view of
jurisdictional error with a commensurate risk of becoming involved in merits
review.

4.43       It
has been remarked, having regard to this approach, that:

The legal rules giving rise to the traditional grounds of
judicial review are in this way linked by a common theme. They are not discrete
and freestanding. They are all aspects of jurisdiction. They serve to identify
the scope of a decision-maker’s power and the conditions of its valid exercise.[57]

4.44       An
element of the error of law and jurisdictional error grounds is that an error
of fact which goes to jurisdiction will be a ground of relief. Jurisdictional
fact review proceeds on the basis that it is a ground of invalidity for an
official to exercise discretionary executive power in the absence of a
jurisdictional fact.[58]

4.45       It
has been noted that, although once rare and confined largely to the review of
constitutional facts, review on this ground is on the increase and that:

…there is an obvious risk of divergent outcomes when there
are two separate investigations of a jurisdictional fact.[59]

4.46       Factors
contributing to this risk are said to include:

·
different evidence before the tribunal and the court

·
the fact that the tribunal is not bound by the rules of evidence

·
the extent to which tribunal decision-makers may draw on their
own knowledge in reaching a decision

·
the susceptibility of material generally to different
interpretations; and

·
the time gap between the reaching of the respective decisions.

Procedural fairness (including probative evidence)

4.47       The
doctrine of procedural fairness represents an important aspect of good
administration. Ways in which it does this include by:

·
appealing to a fundamental sense of justice

·
ensuring that all the necessary information is obtained from the
parties

·
ensuring high quality impartial decisions; and

·
fostering public confidence in the fairness of the administrative
system.

4.48       Traditionally,
the doctrine had two elements:

·
that a decision-maker must afford an opportunity to be heard to a
person whose interests will be adversely affected by a decision; and

·
that a decision-maker must be impartial and disinterested in the
matter to be decided.

4.49       The
probative evidence rule, to be considered in more detail below, may be regarded
as a further aspect of procedural fairness rule.

4.50       There
are two steps indicating whether there has been a breach of this ground: is
there an implication that procedural fairness applies. If so, what fair
process should have been applied (content). It is only when a positive answer
is given to the first question and a negative answer to the second that a
breach of the ground of review is made out. The no bias rule and the probative
evidence rule only apply to the second of these questions.

Right to be heard

4.51       The
relevant principles are stated as follows in the judgment of Mason J in Kioa
v West:

It is a fundamental rule of the common law doctrine of
natural justice expressed in traditional terms that, generally speaking, when
an order is to be made which will deprive a person of some right or interest or
the legitimate expectation of a benefit, he is entitled to know the case sought
to be made against him and to be given an opportunity of replying to it … The
reference to `right or interest’ in this formulation must be understood as
relating to personal liberty, status, preservation of livelihood and
-reputation, as well as to proprietary rights and interests.[60]

4.52       At
the same time the courts have maintained the view that procedural fairness is
not a universally available right. Certain factors must be present before it
will be implied as a principle of common law. Further, the implication can be
excluded.

4.53       In Mahon
v. Air New Zealand, Lord Diplock said in delivering the judgment of the
Privy Council that the repository of a power to inquire and make findings and
who contemplates making an unfavourable finding:

…must listen fairly to any relevant evidence conflicting
with the finding and any rational argument against the finding that a person
represented at the inquiry, whose interests (including in that term career or
reputation) may be adversely affected by it, may wish to place before him or
would have so wished if he had been aware of the risk of the finding being
made.[61]

4.54       As
also noted by Brennan J in Annetts v McCann:

This is a general principle which, subject to any contrary
intention expressed or implied in the statute, applies to statutory inquiries
in which the inquisitor is authorized to publish findings that might reflect
unfavourably on a person’s conduct.[62]

4.55       However
such exclusion must be in specific terms. More recently in Minister for
Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; Ex parte Miah it has been said that:

It is now settled that, when a statute confers on a public
official the power to do something which affects a person’s rights, interests
or expectations, the rules of natural justice regulate the exercise of that
power “unless they are excluded by plain words of necessary intendment”.[63]

4.56       It
was also argued,[64] amongst other things,
that because the Migration Act established a mandatory duty to inform
applicants about certain kinds of information, Parliament could not have
intended that a similar duty should be imposed in relation to other types of
information.

4.57       In
rejecting this argument, McHugh J said that:

An intention on the part of the legislature to exclude the
rules of natural justice is not to be assumed nor spelled out from
“indirect references, uncertain inferences or equivocal
considerations”. Nor is such an intention to be inferred from the
presence in the statute of rights which are commensurate with some of the rules
of natural justice.[65]

…so to argue is to fall into the error of inferring from
the presence of some matters concerned with natural justice that Parliament
intended to exclude natural justice in all other respects.[66]

Bias

4.58       Bias
may be actual or apprehended and may manifest itself in the decision-maker’s
personal associations, interests or in the structure of the decision-making
process.[67]

4.59       Subject
to the need to accommodate differences between court proceedings and
proceedings before other kinds of tribunals, the High Court has said that the
rule against bias would be as applicable to a tribunal as to a court.[68]

4.60       In Minister
for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Jia’s case, however, it is suggested
that what might constitute a breach of procedural fairness depends to a degree
on the nature of the decision-making body, that is, whether the body is a
court, tribunal or a Minister. As a result, what would be categorised as pre-judgment
in a court, will not necessarily be so classified in relation to a tribunal,
which is expected to build up expertise in matters such as country information
(for instance the Refugee Review Tribunal).[69]

Probative evidence[70]

4.61       This
rule has links with unreasonableness and with error of law on the face of the
record[71] although it would seem
that, in Australia at least, it should not be equated to error of law.[72]
It is best regarded, however, in the context of the ground of procedural
fairness. In R v Deputy Industrial Injuries Commission, ex parte Moore,
Diplock LJ noted that natural justice requires that tribunal’s decisions are
based on some evidence of probative value, that is:

The requirement that a person exercising quasi-judicial
functions, must base his decision on evidence means no more than it must be
based upon material which tends logically to show the existence or
non-existence of facts relevant to the issues to be determined, or to show the
likelihood or unlikelihood of the occurrence of some future event the
occurrence of which would be relevant. [73]

4.62       What
is substantive or adequate is inevitably affected by one’s perception of the
justice or injustice of the particular decision. In common with the ‘extended ultra
vires’ grounds of unreasonableness, irrelevant/relevant considerations
and error of law, this ground could provide recourse to re-examination of the
facts of a case. As with those grounds, however, the courts have trodden
warily.

4.63       According
to Lord Diplock, the obligation ensuing from the probative evidence rule:

…means that [the decision-maker] must not spin a coin or
consult an astrologer, but he may take into account any material which, as a
matter of reason, has some probative value in the sense mentioned above. If it
is capable of having any probative value, the weight to be attached to it is a
matter for the person to whom the Parliament has entrusted the responsibility
of deciding the issue. The supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court does not
entitle it to usurp this responsibility and to substitute its own views for
his.[74]

4.64       Because
of its tendency to blur the merits/judicial review boundary, the High Court has
also cautioned against too heavy a reliance on this rule.[75]

Content of procedural fairness

4.65       As
intimated earlier in this Part, identification of what constitutes procedural
fairness in a particular case can vary:

The definition of fair procedures to govern the making of
every determination affecting the interests of an individual is a formidable
task. Indeed, the almost infinite range of factors preclude an a priori
definition of precise procedures to guide every administrator in the exercise
of his power in every case. Some agencies have power to summon witnesses, some
do not. Some can compel the production of documents, some can not. Some are
bound by the constraints of confidentiality, some are not. Some administrative
decisions depend on clearly defined facts, some require a rather diffuse
inquiry. Some decisions owe little to policy, some owe a lot. Some
administrative decisions are made at leisure, some must be made on the moment.
Across the broad spectrum of administrative decision-making, the principles of
natural justice require that the procedure be fair in all the circumstances.[76]

4.66       In
some cases where the rules relating to the right to be heard are applicable:

…nothing less than a full and unbiased hearing of each
affected individual’s case will satisfy them. In other circumstances,
something less may suffice. Thus, the circumstances of a particular case may
be such that procedural fairness does not require that each person affected be
accorded an effective opportunity of being personally heard before a decision
is made but nonetheless requires that the decisions-maker be and appear to be,
personally unbiased.[77]

The judicial perspective

4.67       The
courts have regarded this rule as one of fundamental importance and one that
may only be displaced in the event of a clear statutory intention to that
effect. This is reflected in the decision of the High Court in Kioa
v West, where it was said that:

The law has now developed to a point where it may be
accepted that there is a common law duty to act fairly, in the sense of
according procedural fairness, in the making of administrative decisions which
affect rights, interests and legitimate expectations, subject only to the clear
manifestation of a contrary statutory intention.[78]

4.68       Although
concern has been expressed that procedural fairness should not be pursued
inflexibly to the detriment of efficient decision-making[79]
it has been said that:

It is not the purpose of section 75(v) of the Constitution
to engage the jurisdiction of the Court through the decisions of administrative
decision-makers to decide whether or not some minor or inappropriately worded
reference to the material upon which the decision-maker relies has not been
brought to the attention of the person affected. Something more is required to
demonstrate an arguable breach of the rules of natural justice.[80]

The executive perspective

4.69       As a
result of the decision in Kioa v West[81] migration officials were
obliged to afford applicants an adequate opportunity to present all matters
relevant to their case, [82] although no judge went
so far as to require formal or informal oral hearings.

4.70       In
areas with many elements to the decision-making process, it has been suggested
that this requirement can become both onerous and unnecessary.[83]
In these circumstances, the courts have adopted the view that the overall
process must be fair.[84]

4.71       It
has been noted in this regard that:

Procedural fairness is the great protection against
bureaucratic unfairness. The question is not whether we have too much natural
justice – the principle of natural justice must drive decision-making. The
real issue is that those who are creating models for the procedure to be
followed, whether they be public servants or judges, need to be aware that an
excess of procedure can be counter-productive. It cannot be assumed that the
provision of additional procedural challenges will necessarily be to the
advantage of persons affected by the decision in question.[85]

4.72       For
ordinary people, considerations of cost, speed, finality and accessibility will
also be important elements.

4.73       At
the same time, note the procedural standards imposed on the public sector,
particularly procedural fairness, have led to a general improvement in primary
decision-making.[86]

Discussion points 5 and 6

4.74       As
remarked by the Council in 1989 in its 32^nd report, Review of the
Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act: the Ambit of the Act:

…in the Council’s view, judicial review cases in Australia
have generally shown the courts to be careful to ensure that the administrative
processes by which government is carried on does not become a series of
justiciable controversies.[87]

4.75       Discussion
of the grounds of review in the preceding section of this paper has not
dislodged this view.

4.76       However,
the scope of certain grounds of review is not fixed. Grounds may expand or
contract in response to a range of considerations, and there is not always a
congruence between the perceptions of the courts and the executive at any given
point in time as to ‘how much’ and ‘why’. Inevitably, this will render the
relationship between the courts and the executive an uneasy one.

4.77       Having
regard to the nature of the grounds of review examined in this discussion
paper, and to the way in which the courts have generally addressed those
grounds, the view might reasonably be taken that no ground, in itself, without
more, warrants the exclusion of judicial review. However, there are clearly
other significant factors, such as cost, consistency and predicability which
may need to be addressed. It is the ‘other’ and the ‘by whom’ elements that
the Council proposes to address in the following Parts of this discussion
paper.

(5)

 

Do you agree/not agree with these views? Please explain why/why not.

(6)

Are there other matters associated with the grounds of judicial review discussed above or of any other grounds of review which are of relevance/concern in seeking to determine the appropriate scope of judicial review? Please elaborate.