1708249 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of China, sought review of a decision affirming the refusal of his protection visa application. The applicant claimed he feared harm from creditors in China due to a failed investment, alleging he had borrowed money from friends and relatives, which he was unable to repay. He asserted he had received death threats, been subjected to physical assault and false imprisonment, and that his family had been stalked and intimidated.

The core legal issues before the court were whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for a Convention reason, or alternatively, whether he faced a real risk of suffering significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of being removed from Australia to China, thereby engaging Australia's protection obligations under section 36(2)(a) or (aa) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). The court was required to assess the applicant's credibility and the consistency of his evidence.

The court found significant inconsistencies in the applicant's evidence regarding the investment, the number and identity of the investors, and the nature of the harm he claimed to have suffered. Specifically, the applicant's inability to name all the investors and his admission of only receiving verbal threats, rather than physical harm, led the delegate and subsequently the Tribunal to conclude that his claims were fabricated or heavily embellished. The Tribunal considered the applicant's evidence in light of relevant guidelines and country information, and ultimately determined that there were not substantial grounds for believing he faced a real risk of suffering significant harm if returned to China.

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