Ministerial Intervention | Wintr Consulting

Requesting the Minister’s Intervention

A personal, non-delegable power exercised in the public interest.

Ministerial Intervention is a request to the Minister of Home Affairs to personally intervene a decision with a more favourable outcome. The main powers are in sections 351 and 501J of the Migration Act 1958. These decisions are personal and non-delegable which means the Minister must make the decision personally.

Important Note

Section 417 has been repealed. Protection matters that were previously enlivened under section 417 are considered under section 351 or section 501J, depending on the context.

Recent Important Updates

On 4 September 2025, the Minister issued new Personal Procedural Decisions (PPDs) which dictate the future of pending Ministerial Intervention requests.

Lodged BEFORE 12 April 2023

If your Ministerial Intervention request was lodged before 12 April 2023, and the Minister is not personally considering it or you are not listed in the PPD, the Minister has decided not to consider your request, and it will be finalised.

Lodged 12 Apr 2023 – 4 Sept 2025

If your request was lodged between these dates, and the Minister is not already personally considering it, the Minister has decided not to consider your request, and it will be finalised unless it falls within a class of requests the Minister still wishes to consider.

Lodged ON or AFTER 4 Sept 2025

New requests submitted on or after 4 September 2025 will be assessed under the new Ministerial Instructions under sections 351 and 501J of the Migration Act 1958.

In all cases, the Department will notify you of the outcome.

Context & Eligibility

When can Ministerial Intervention be requested?

You must have a decision from the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) before the Minister can consider intervention under section 351 or section 501J of the Act.
In limited protection visa circumstances, the Minister can personally lift statutory bars to allow a fresh protection application (sections 46A and 48B) if it is in the public interest.
At all times, these powers are personal, and non-delegable.

Why have these changes occurred?

The changes were introduced after the High Court’s decision in Davis v Minister for Immigration [2023] HCA 10, which examined how the Department handled requests for Ministerial Intervention.

The Court found that the Department’s earlier internal processes gave too much informal control over which cases were referred to the Minister.
This meant that some requests might never reach the Minister, even though the Minister alone holds the discretionary power to decide.
As a result, the entire Ministerial Intervention framework was reviewed.

The new process sets clear parameters for referral to the Minister, who then must make the decision personally. These changes are designed to create fairness and consistency, ensuring all requests for Ministerial Intervention are assessed under the same considerations.