1727890 (Refugee)

The applicant sought a review of a decision made in April 2017 to refuse him a protection visa. This was the fourth such review application lodged by the applicant with the Tribunal concerning the same primary decision. The Tribunal had previously notified the applicant in relation to two prior review applications that it lacked jurisdiction to review the decision again.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to entertain a further application for review of a decision that had already been the subject of previous review applications, particularly where the Tribunal had previously found it lacked jurisdiction. The Tribunal was also required to consider whether the repeated lodgement of such applications constituted an abuse of process.

The Tribunal reasoned that established case law in migration matters confirms that the Tribunal cannot accept further applications for review of the same decision, especially when such applications are found to be an abuse of process aimed at prolonging an applicant's stay in Australia. Given that this was the fourth repeat review application and the Tribunal had already determined it lacked jurisdiction in two previous instances, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant's actions amounted to an abuse of process.

Consequently, the Tribunal ordered that it did not have jurisdiction in this matter.