1711826 (Refugee)

[2018] AATA 936

1711826 (Refugee) [2018] AATA 936 (5 April 2018)

CORRIGENDUM

DIVISION:Migration & Refugee Division

CASE NUMBER:  1711826

COUNTRY OF REFERENCE:                  Malaysia

MEMBER:Dr Colin Huntly

DATE OF DECISION:  5 April 2018

DATE CORRIGENDUM

SIGNED:16 April 2018

PLACE OF DECISION:  Perth

AMENDMENT:  The following corrections are made to the decision:

The Date of Decision is incorrectly stated as 22 March 2018 on page one of the decision. The 22 March 2018 should be replaced with 5 April 2018.

Dr Colin Huntly
Member

DECISION RECORD

DIVISION:Migration & Refugee Division

CASE NUMBER:  1711826

COUNTRY OF REFERENCE:                  Malaysia

MEMBER:Dr Colin Huntly

DATE:22 March 2018

PLACE OF DECISION:  Perth

DECISION:The Tribunal confirms the decision to dismiss the application.

Statement made on 05 April 2018 at 11:31am

CATCHWORDS
Refugee – Protection visa – Malaysia – Application dismissed – Applicants claim they did not receive notification of the dismissal – Changed email address – No change of contact details lodged by the Tribunal – No valid reason for failure to attend the hearing

LEGISLATION
Migration Act 1958, ss 426A, 426B
Migration Regulations 1994 Schedule 2

Any references appearing in square brackets indicate that information has been omitted from this decision pursuant to section 431 of the Migration Act 1958 and replaced with generic information which does not allow the identification of an applicant, or their relative or other dependant.

STATEMENT OF DECISION AND REASONS

APPLICATION FOR REVIEW

1. This is an application for review of decisions made by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration on [date] May 2017 to refuse to grant the visa applicants protection visas under the Migration Act 1958 (the Act).

2. On 22 March 2018 the Tribunal dismissed the application under s.426A(1A)(b) of the Act as the applicants did not appear before it to give evidence and present arguments at the time and date of the scheduled hearing.

3. The applicants were notified of the dismissal decision and given a copy of a written statement setting out the decision and the reasons for the decision, in accordance with s.426B(5). The applicants were advised that reinstatement of the application could be sought within 14 days of receiving the dismissal statement and that a failure to apply for reinstatement within the 14 day period would result in confirmation of the dismissal decision.

4. The applicants applied for reinstatement of the application within 14 days after receiving notice of the decision. For the following reasons, the Tribunal did not consider it appropriate to reinstate the application.

5. The applicants sent an email to the Tribunal on 4 April 2018 in the following terms:

   We wish to respectfully ask that another tribunal hearing date be set.

   The reason is that the person that the original letter that you sent in December 2017 was not received by us.  The person we think it was sent to had left Australia due to his own circumstances and had at that time created the email address for us but not given us the password.!

   Since he was receiving letters on our behalf to the email address and he has now given us the email address password we saw all the letters sent to us. I can imagine others in a similar situation.

   We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has cause the tribunal and hope that you are able to set a new date for our hearing.

   Please contact me on [email address].

   We look forward to hearing from you.

6. The Tribunal notes that the email address to which both the original hearing invitation and initial dismissal notification were both sent was the same email address notified by the applicants in their original application for review, lodged with the Tribunal on 3 June 2017.  The Tribunal further notes that this email address is the same email address to which the original decision record which is the subject of this review was sent.  The Tribunal notes that, at no time prior to 4 April 2018 did the applicants lodge a change of contact details form or equivalent with the Tribunal

7. Accordingly, the Tribunal finds that the applicant was correctly notified of the scheduled hearing. 

8. The Tribunal has considered the foregoing submission made by the applicants in seeking reinstatement of their application in their email of 4 April 2018.  The Tribunal finds that the applicants have not disclosed a valid reason for their failure to attend the scheduled hearing with the Tribunal.  On this basis, the Tribunal refuses the applicants’ reinstatement request.

9. The decision to dismiss the application is confirmed.  In these circumstances, the decisions under review are taken to be affirmed.

   DECISION

10. The Tribunal confirms the decision to dismiss the application.

    Dr Colin Huntly
    Member