1919890 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the protection visa application of a woman from Vietnam. The applicant arrived in Australia in January 2014 on a student visa and applied for a protection visa in September 2016. Her claims for protection were based on environmental pollution in Vietnam caused by a chemical spill, which she believed had not been adequately addressed by the responsible company or the government.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, specifically whether Australia had protection obligations towards her. This involved assessing her claims regarding the environmental disaster and its impact on her ability to reside in Vietnam, as well as considering whether she was excluded from Australia's protection obligations.

The Tribunal found that while the applicant was aware of the environmental disaster, she was not in Vietnam at the time and may not have been correctly informed that the company responsible had paid substantial compensation to the Vietnamese government. The Tribunal noted that country information confirmed the chemical spill by Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation in April 2016 had devastated fishing communities and livelihoods along Vietnam's coast, and that the company had admitted liability and paid USD 500 million in compensation. Despite some dissatisfaction and legal appeals regarding the adequacy of compensation, these were dismissed by Vietnamese courts. Crucially, the Tribunal determined that it did not need to address the applicant's specific protection claims because she was satisfied to be a member of the same family unit as a non-citizen in Australia whom the Department had already deemed to be a refugee.

Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with a direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(a) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), meaning she is considered a refugee for the purposes of the Act.