2008147 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for protection visas by four applicants, citizens of Fiji, who had arrived in Australia in August 2019. The applicants claimed they feared persecution and human rights abuses upon return to Fiji, citing experiences of racial discrimination, unfair employment practices, and perceived victimisation due to their affiliation with the Methodist church, which they alleged was at odds with the current government. The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicants met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36(2)(a) or section 36(2)(aa) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).

The court considered the definition of a refugee under section 5H and the meaning of a well-founded fear of persecution, including the requirement for persecution to be for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and to involve serious harm. It also examined the complementary protection criterion under section 36(2)(aa), which requires substantial grounds for believing there is a real risk of significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal to a receiving country. The court was to assess whether the applicants' claims of unfair treatment in employment, potential for prosecution and abuse due to their church affiliation, and lack of alternative employment opportunities in Fiji constituted a well-founded fear of persecution or a real risk of significant harm.

The Tribunal found that the applicants had not established that they were refugees or that Australia had protection obligations towards them. While accepting the applicants' identities and their status as citizens of Fiji, the Tribunal was not satisfied that the circumstances described amounted to a well-founded fear of persecution or a real risk of significant harm. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the protection visas.