2405906 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking a protection visa. The applicant, a citizen of Papua New Guinea, claimed to have left his country in December 2022 due to false accusations of involvement in the 2022 National Elections fraud, alleging he faced threats of violence from supporters of a rival candidate. The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant satisfied the criteria under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) for Australia to owe him protection obligations.

The central legal issue was whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution or faced a real risk of significant harm if returned to Papua New Guinea, as defined by sections 5J and 36(2A) of the Act, respectively. This involved assessing the applicant's claims of political activism, threats, and the general security situation in his home province of Enga, considering relevant country information and guidelines. The Tribunal also had to consider whether any claimed risk was faced by the population generally or if the applicant faced a personal risk.

The Tribunal found that the applicant's claims of political activism were of a low level and did not establish a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of political opinion. Furthermore, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant had not demonstrated substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of his removal to Papua New Guinea, there was a real risk he would suffer significant harm. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.