AIJA Case studies

Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v SZGUR (2011) 241 CLR 594: The High Court has found that the inquisitorial mode of operations of Tribunals was meant to ‘distinguish them from adversarial proceedings’ and to characterize their statutory functions. The Court repeated that the statutory injunctions to tribunals ‘to pursue the objective of providing a mechanism of review that is fair, just, economical, informal and quick’, to act ‘according to substantial justice and the merits of the case’, [and that] ‘[i]n so doing [the tribunal] is not to be bound by technicalities, legal forms or rules of evidence’, and ‘may get any information that it considers relevant’ ([19]), aidoes not impose ‘a general duty to make such inquiries’ (at [20]).