1829234 (Refugee)

The applicant, a refugee, sought review of a decision by the Minister to refuse to grant a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) dismissed the application for review due to the applicant's failure to appear at the scheduled hearing. Subsequently, the applicant applied for reinstatement of the review application, which was also dismissed by the AAT for non-appearance at the reinstatement hearing. The applicant then sought judicial review of the AAT's decision to affirm the dismissal of the review application.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the AAT had erred in law by affirming the dismissal of the applicant's review application without a proper hearing, particularly in light of the applicant's repeated non-appearances. The court was required to consider the AAT's powers and obligations under the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) and the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) when dealing with applications where a party fails to attend a hearing.

The court reasoned that the AAT had correctly applied the relevant provisions of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) and the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). It was established that the AAT has the power to dismiss an application for review if the applicant fails to attend a hearing, provided that reasonable steps have been taken to notify the applicant of the hearing. The court found that the AAT had taken such reasonable steps in this instance, and therefore, the dismissal of the review application was not an error of law. The subsequent dismissal of the reinstatement application was also found to be within the AAT's powers.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.