1612303 (Refugee)

The applicant, who claimed to be a Malaysian citizen, sought review by the Tribunal of a delegate's decision to refuse a protection visa. The applicant arrived in Australia in February 2016 and applied for the visa in May 2016, making limited claims for protection. The delegate refused the visa in July 2016, and the applicant sought review by the Tribunal, providing evidence and arguments on 25 October 2017.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant was owed Australia's protection obligations. This required the Tribunal to assess the applicant's claims and determine their credibility, considering whether they had a well-founded fear of persecution or engaged complementary protection criteria. A further consideration was whether Malaysia was a safe third country for the applicant.

The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision, concluding that the applicant is a citizen of Malaysia and that Malaysia is the applicant's receiving country for the purposes of the refugee and complementary protection assessment. The Tribunal found no evidence to suggest the applicant had the right to enter and reside in any safe third country. In its reasoning, the Tribunal acknowledged the importance of a reasonable approach to credibility assessment, referencing comments from the Full Federal Court in *Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs and McIllhatton v Guo Wei Rong and Pam Run Juan* (1996) 40 ALD 445, particularly a cautionary note regarding an over-stringent approach potentially leading to unjust exclusion of evidence. The Tribunal did not receive further submissions from the applicant after the hearing.