Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to put this to you, and I mentioned this in my second reading speech. What about a circumstance where a person has gone to a function somewhere in Jordan and has, in some way, been photographed with someone who really is a bad egg and that link is then made up and provided to the minister? So the minister makes the decision—in good faith—on the basis of some intelligence that says there is an association, and that matter then gets referred to the review authority. We understand from the bill that at that point there is no representation from the person subject to the TEO. They're not in a position to explain the facts of the case, which are: 'I was there on one night. I don't know these people. I've never seen them before in my life.' Of course, that can't occur, as I understand it, at the administrative review stage by the reviewing authority.

What you've just said to me is that, when we get to a court, there's no way of remedying that error. That's a question of fact—that the minister has been presented with the fact that this particular person is associated with some really bad eggs. That's a question of fact. And what you're saying is that a court could never look at that. The person who's been denied procedural fairness because the act does that is not in a position to turn up to the court and say: 'Your Honour, there's a serious error of fact in this. I can show that I've spent all of my time assisting people in Jordan who are troubled. That's how I was spending my time there. I got caught out once being in a place where there were some bad eggs.' That's what you're effectively suggesting if a court can't examine an error of fact. Using that as an example, can you just confirm that is the case?