arbiter
JournalsAccount

National interest, present tense: A case for a statutory contemporaneity duty in s 501 decisions

Jason Donnelly

Alternative Law Journal2026https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969x261419845article
ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

This article critiques ministerial ‘national interest’ decisions under Pt 9 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (‘the Migration Act ’) that exclude natural justice and may rest on stale material. It identifies resulting jurisdictional error risks and proposes tightly scoped reforms – a statutory contemporaneity duty with presumptive freshness windows, engagement with supervening updates, an annexed Currency Schedule, and a brief confirm-or-lapse mechanism – to ensure present tense, probative decision-making.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969x261419845

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{jason2026,
  title        = {{National interest, present tense: A case for a statutory contemporaneity duty in s 501 decisions}},
  author       = {Jason Donnelly},
  journal      = {Alternative Law Journal},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969x261419845},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

National interest, present tense: A case for a statutory contemporaneity duty in s 501 decisions

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.