2320167 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for review of a delegate of the Minister for Home Affairs' decision to refuse the applicant, a citizen of Fiji, a protection visa. The applicant arrived in Australia in June 2019 on a student visa and applied for the protection visa in October 2023. The delegate refused the visa on 13 November 2023, and the applicant sought review of this decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa under section 36 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). This required determining if the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for a refugee nexus reason, or if she was owed complementary protection, or if she was a member of the same family unit as a person who met either of those criteria.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's claims that she sought to support her family in Fiji due to limited economic opportunities there, and that she had not experienced harm in Fiji. She also claimed that authorities could not protect her due to discrimination against her people for speaking up about Indigenous rights, and that she had been threatened by government supporters. However, the applicant also stated she did not think she would be harmed or mistreated if she returned to Fiji and that she could relocate within Fiji to an area where she would not be harmed. The Tribunal found that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria for a protection visa, as she had not demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution or a real risk of significant harm upon return to Fiji.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.