Plaintiff S157/2002 v Commonwealth
Key Principle
Upheld the constitutional entrenchment of judicial review under s 75(v), holding that privative clauses cannot oust the High Court's jurisdiction to review jurisdictional error
The High Court unanimously held that s 75(v) of the Constitution, which confers original jurisdiction on the High Court in matters involving officers of the Commonwealth, provides a constitutionally entrenched minimum provision of judicial review that cannot be abrogated by Parliament. The decision read down the Migration Act's privative clause so that it did not prevent review of jurisdictional errors by Commonwealth officers.