Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Clark for his suggestion, but I won't do that. I'm not seeking to fetter the future Administrative Review Tribunal with whatever thoughts I might have on the infinite variety of circumstances that can occur in protection applications and review of protection decisions. It's simply not possible to do so. That's why we use in legislation phrases like 'reasonable explanation'. That's why we preserve discretions in administrative decision-makers so they can tailor their decisions to the particular circumstances that arise in the particular case. There is always a degree of difficulty in the minister, or me in debate, seeking to set out an exhaustive list of what I think might constitute a reasonable explanation, let alone attempting to do so in the legislation itself. There's got to be some scope for discretion, some scope for administrative decision-makers to match their decision-making to the particular circumstances and the infinite variety of human life that comes before them.

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