1837913 (Refugee)

The applicant sought review of a decision concerning a protection visa application. The dispute arose because the applicant claimed to have made a protection visa application in Indonesia, but this application was not recorded by the Department. Consequently, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was asked to determine whether it had jurisdiction to review a decision that, according to the Department's records, had not been made.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to entertain the applicant's appeal, given the absence of any record of a protection visa application having been lodged with the Department. This question turned on whether a reviewable decision, as contemplated by the relevant legislation, had in fact been made and communicated to the applicant.

The Tribunal, constituted by Member Jason Pennell, reasoned that for the AAT to have jurisdiction to review a decision, a decision must first exist and be capable of review. In this instance, the Department's records indicated no application had been lodged, and therefore no decision had been made by the Department that could be the subject of an appeal to the Tribunal. Without a recorded decision, the Tribunal concluded it lacked the statutory power to proceed with the review.

Accordingly, the Tribunal determined that it did not have jurisdiction in this matter.