1710256 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration to refuse to grant the applicants a protection visa under the *Migration Act 1958*. The tribunal was required to assess the genuineness of the applicants' claims for protection, considering both the information provided in their application and the evidence presented at the hearing.

The primary legal issue before the tribunal was to determine whether the applicants had established a well-founded fear of persecution for a reason specified in the Act. This involved making findings of fact regarding the applicants' claims and assessing their credibility. The tribunal noted that while the benefit of the doubt should be given in questions of credit, this did not necessitate uncritical acceptance of all allegations, and the applicants bore the onus of detailing their case.

The tribunal found that the reasons provided in the husband applicant's initial application for leaving Malaysia were not genuine and not representative of his actual reasons. This conclusion was informed by the identical nature of the information in his application to that in other applications received by the tribunal, inferring it was copied. Consequently, the tribunal did not accept these claims. Instead, it accepted the husband applicant's stated reasons at the hearing for leaving Malaysia, which were related to gambling debts amounting to a specific sum, and accepted his narrative regarding the commencement and extent of his gambling and borrowing.