2009057 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review concerning a protection visa. The applicants, who were seeking protection in Australia, did not appear at the hearing of their application. Consequently, the Tribunal dismissed their application.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was required to confirm the dismissal of the application, given the applicants' failure to appear and their subsequent failure to apply for reinstatement within the prescribed timeframe. The Tribunal was also required to determine the consequence of this failure on the decisions under review.

The Tribunal applied the relevant procedural rules which stipulated that if an applicant fails to appear at a hearing and does not apply for reinstatement within 14 days, the Tribunal must confirm the decision to dismiss the application. In this instance, as no application for reinstatement was made, the Tribunal was bound to confirm the dismissal. The Tribunal confirmed its decision to dismiss the application.