Aii15 v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Aii15, sought judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) to refuse their application for a protection visa. The applicant alleged that the Tribunal's decision was affected by jurisdictional error, specifically contending that the Tribunal applied the incorrect legal test in assessing their claim and that the Tribunal exhibited bias in its consideration of the evidence. The matter came before Judge Cameron in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the Tribunal had erred in its application of the relevant legal test for determining persecution for the purposes of a protection visa application, and whether the Tribunal's conduct demonstrated actual or apprehended bias, thereby vitiating its decision.

Judge Cameron found that the Tribunal had indeed applied an incorrect legal test when assessing the applicant's claim for protection. The Court reasoned that the Tribunal had failed to properly consider the applicant's subjective fear in conjunction with objective country information, a failure that amounted to jurisdictional error. The Court also considered the allegations of bias, but ultimately found that the primary error lay in the misapplication of the legal test.

The Court ordered that the decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal be set aside.