Erasing the Vision Splendid? Unpacking the Formative Responses of the Federal Courts to the Fast Track Processing Regime and the ‘Limited Review’ of the Immigration Assessment Authority

Abstract

The establishment of the Immigration Assessment Authority (‘IAA’) and the Fast Track Processing Regime for certain asylum seekers has posed new and important questions for Australian administrative law, especially in respect of the place, scope and effect of merits review. This article considers the early and formative jurisprudence of the federal courts in relation to ‘Fast Track decisions’ made by the IAA. It concludes that the Fast Track process represents a novel development in Australian public law: a partial review process which is not sufficient to correct the errors of the decision-maker at first instance but which appeared for a time capable of immunising elements of the decision from appeal or direct judicial review. It is, in its intention and current operation, more than a ‘targeted tinkering’ with the mechanics of merits review and of migration law in Australia. It deserves attention as it commences its journey through superior courts and as the regime settles into the Australian administrative law landscape.