1800431 (Refugee)

The applicants, a married couple from China, sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The dispute arose from the applicants' application for protection visas, which was refused by a delegate. The applicants subsequently lodged two applications with the Tribunal for review of this refusal decision. The Tribunal considered the second application for review, lodged on 5 January 2018, after having already finalised the review of the first application, lodged on 21 December 2017, on 19 September 2022.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to review the delegate's decision for a second time. The Tribunal was required to determine if a decision that had already been the subject of a completed review by the Tribunal remained a "reviewable decision" for the purposes of a subsequent application.

The Tribunal reasoned that once it has received an application for review of a reviewable decision and fulfilled its statutory duty to conduct that review, the original delegate's decision is no longer considered reviewable. This principle is supported by established case law, which holds that the Tribunal lacks jurisdiction to review a delegate's decision more than once. As the delegate's decision had already been reviewed and a decision made on 19 September 2022, it was no longer a reviewable decision, and therefore the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain the second application.

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