1620353 (Refugee)

The applicant, an Indonesian national, sought a protection visa based on claims of political activism and persecution in his home country. The dispute concerned whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under Australian migration law. The matter was heard by Paul Noonan, a member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution should he be required to return to Indonesia, as defined by section 5J of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). This required the Tribunal to consider whether the applicant feared persecution for reasons of political opinion, whether there was a real chance of such persecution upon return, and whether this risk applied to all areas of Indonesia. The Tribunal also had to consider whether effective protection measures were available to the applicant in Indonesia.

The Tribunal considered Ministerial Direction No. 84 and relevant guidelines and country information. It accepted the applicant's identity and Indonesian citizenship, and that Indonesia was his receiving country. The applicant claimed he was arrested and detained for three months in 2010 for his political activism and feared similar treatment upon return due to the Indonesian government's persecution of activists. However, the Tribunal found no suggestion that the applicant satisfied the criteria under section 36(2) of the Act, which relates to being a refugee or facing significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.