1728507 (Refugee)

The applicant, a woman from Heilongjiang Province, China, sought a protection visa in Australia. Her claim stemmed from a dispute over land resumption and compensation in her village, which led to her and other villagers being forcibly removed from their homes, physically assaulted by officials, and subsequently warned by police not to pursue the matter further. Following this incident, she alleged she was subjected to daily police surveillance, which prevented her from finding employment, prompting her decision to seek protection in Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically under section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958, which concerns a well-founded fear of persecution, or alternatively, under section 36(2)(aa), the complementary protection criterion. This required the Tribunal to assess whether there were substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of her removal from Australia to China, the applicant faced a real risk of suffering significant harm. The Tribunal was also mandated to consider relevant policy guidelines and country information assessments.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's fear of harm from the Chinese government, urban planning authorities, and "underground society or hooligans," as well as her assertion of widespread corruption and lack of rule of law leading to potential discrimination. However, the Tribunal found that the applicant did not satisfy the criterion under section 36(2) of the Act, nor did it find that she met the complementary protection criterion under section 36(2)(aa). The decision noted that the applicant did not claim to be a family member of someone who satisfied the refugee criterion.

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