1705281 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking a protection visa for Australia, who claimed to fear harm upon return to Thailand. The applicant, a Thai national, alleged past domestic violence from her ex-husband, including physical assault and strangulation, which occurred in front of their children. She had reported the abuse to the police and sent her children to live with her in-laws due to fear for their safety. The applicant arrived in Australia in May 2011 and lodged her protection visa application in August 2015.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, either under the refugee convention (s 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958) due to a well-founded fear of persecution, or under the complementary protection provisions (s 36(2)(aa)) due to a real risk of significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal to Thailand. This required the Tribunal to assess the credibility of the applicant's claims, consider available country information regarding state protection in Thailand, and determine if the alleged harm constituted "serious harm" or "significant harm" as defined by the Act.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visa. While acknowledging the applicant's claims of past domestic violence, the Tribunal concluded that there was no real chance she would suffer serious harm upon return to Thailand for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. Furthermore, the Tribunal found no substantial grounds to believe that there was a real risk of significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of her removal. The Tribunal's reasoning implicitly considered the availability of state protection and the passage of time and loss of contact since the alleged incidents, suggesting these factors diminished the likelihood of future harm. The applicant did not satisfy the criteria under s 36(2)(a) or s 36(2)(aa) of the Migration Act 1958.