2100111 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered a matter concerning a protection visa application by an individual from China. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the AAT retained jurisdiction to review a decision that had previously undergone a valid review by the Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the AAT was to determine whether it possessed jurisdiction to review the delegate's decision, given that this decision had already been the subject of a prior, valid review by the Tribunal itself.

The AAT reasoned that once a delegate's decision has been validly reviewed by the Tribunal, it ceases to be a "reviewable decision" for the purposes of further review by the Tribunal. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it no longer had jurisdiction in relation to that particular decision. The Tribunal therefore made no orders, as it lacked the authority to proceed.