1925514 (Refugee)

The applicant, a citizen of the Solomon Islands, sought review of a decision concerning their application for a protection visa. The dispute centred on whether the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) had jurisdiction to consider the applicant's case, given that their application for review was lodged after the statutory deadline. The decision was made by Nicole Burns, a Member of the AAT.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to entertain the application for review, specifically in light of the application being lodged out of time. The Tribunal was required to determine if a medical issue that arose after the review application period had ended could be considered, and if so, whether this would grant the Tribunal the discretion to accept the late application.

The Tribunal found that the application for review was not received until 11 September 2019, which was after the period prescribed by the relevant legislation. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the application for review had not been made in accordance with the legislative requirements. As a result, the Tribunal determined that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the matter, and therefore, could not exercise any discretion regarding the late lodgement or the subsequent medical issue. The Tribunal made no orders as it found it had no jurisdiction.