Section 494A — Giving documents by Minister where no requirement to do so by section 494B method

494A Giving documents by Minister where no requirement to do so by section 494B method

(1) If:

(a) a provision of this Act or the regulations requires or permits the Minister to give a document to a person; and

(b) the provision does not state that the document must be given:

(i) by one of the methods specified in section 494B; or

(ii) by a method prescribed for the purposes of giving documents to a person in immigration detention;

the Minister may give the document to the person by any method that he or she considers appropriate (which may be one of the methods mentioned in subparagraph (b)(i) or (ii) of this section). Note: Section 494D deals with giving documents to a person’s authorised recipient.

(2) If a person is a minor, the Minister may give a document to an individual who is at least 18 years of age if the Minister reasonably believes that:

(a) the individual has day-to-day care and responsibility for the minor; or

(b) the individual works in or for an organisation that has day-to-day care and responsibility for the minor and the individual’s duties, whether alone or jointly with another person, involve care and responsibility for the minor.

(3) However, subsection (2) does not apply if subsection 52(3C) (which relates to giving notifications in the case of combined applications) applies in relation to the minor.

(4) If the Minister gives a document to an individual, as mentioned in subsection (2), the Minister is taken to have given the document to the minor. However, this does not prevent the Minister giving the minor a copy of the document.

(5) This section does not apply to the giving of any of the following documents:

(a) a document relating to the proposed cancellation of a visa;

(b) a document relating to the cancellation of a visa;

(c) a document relating to the revocation of the cancellation of a visa;

(d) a document relating to a decision not to revoke the cancellation of a visa. Note 1: The Minister must give a person a document mentioned in this subsection in the way prescribed by the regulations for the document (see, for example, subsections 119(2), 127(2A) and 501G(3) and paragraph 504(1)(e)). Note 2: For the giving of such a document to the person’s authorised recipient, see section 494D.