AMC15 v Minister for Immigration - [2016] FCCA 1458

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

AMC15 v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & ANOR

[2016] FCCA 1458

Catchwords:
MIGRATION – Application for protection visa – review of decision of Refugee Review Tribunal – applicant claimed protection on basis of Christian faith – whether the Tribunal’s review was subject to section 116 of the Constitution – whether the Tribunal violated the applicant’s right to free exercise of thought, conscience, religion or belief – no jurisdictional error – application dismissed.

Legislation:

Migration Act 1958 (Cth), ss.36(2), 414, 430

Constitution (Cth), s.116

Cases cited:
ABX15 v Minister for Immigration & Border Protection [2015] FCCA 3003
ABX15 v Minister for Immigration & Border Protection (No 2) [2015] FCCA 3004
Adelaide Company of Jehovah's Witnesses v Commonwealth (1943) 67 CLR 116; [1943] HCA 12
AMF15 v Minister for Immigration & Border Protection [2016] FCAFC 68
Re Patterson; Ex parte Taylor (2001) 207 CLR 391; [2001] HCA 51
Church of the New Faith v Commissioner for Pay-roll Tax (Vic) (1983) 154 CLR 120; [1983] HCA 40

Applicant:

AMC15

First Respondent:

MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & BORDER PROTECTION

Second Respondent:

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL

File Number:

SYG 1047 of 2015

Judgment of:

Judge Smith

Hearing date:

24 May 2016

Date of Last Submission:

24 May 2016

Delivered at:

Sydney

Delivered on:

24 May 2016

REPRESENTATION

Counsel for the Applicant:

Mr J Williams

Solicitors for the Applicant:

Russell Byrnes Solicitor

Solicitors for the Respondents:

Mr A Markus, Australian Government Solicitor

ORDERS

The application be dismissed.

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT
OF AUSTRALIA
AT SYDNEY

SYG 1047 of 2015

AMC15

Applicant

And

MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & BORDER PROTECTION

First Respondent

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL

Second Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

(Delivered Ex Tempore & Revised)

This is an application for judicial review of a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal[1]dated 13 March 2015. The Tribunal affirmed a decision of a delegate of the Minister made on 14 August 2013 to refuse to grant the applicant a protection visa.
[1] As it was then known. On 1 July 2015 it became the Administrative Appeals Tribunal: Tribunals Amalgamation Act 2015 (Cth).
There are three grounds in the amended application They are:
i)that the Tribunal violated the second limb of s.116 of the Constitution (Cth) by imposing religious observance on the applicant;
ii)the Tribunal violated the third limb of s.116 of the Constitution by prohibiting the applicant’s free exercise of religion; and
iii)the Tribunal violated the applicant’s right to free exercise of thought, conscience, religion or belief as enshrined in customary international law, which has been adopted or incorporated by the common law of Australia.
Due to the relatively confined nature of the grounds it is not necessary to deal in any detail with all of the material before the Court.

Background

The applicant is a citizen of Iran who arrived in Australia on 4 August 2012 as an Irregular Maritime Arrival. The applicant was interviewed by an officer of the Department of Immigration on 18 September 2012. As part of that interview, the applicant was asked…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2016] FCCA 1458
Decision Date: 24 May 2016

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The applicant, AMC15, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Minister for Immigration. The dispute concerned the Minister's refusal to grant the applicant a visa. The matter was heard before Judge Smith in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the Minister's decision to refuse the visa was affected by jurisdictional error. Specifically, the Court was required to determine if the delegate of the Minister had failed to consider relevant considerations or had taken into account irrelevant considerations when assessing the applicant's eligibility for the visa.

Judge Smith reasoned that the delegate's assessment had indeed been flawed. The delegate had placed undue weight on certain information while overlooking other crucial evidence that was directly relevant to the applicant's circumstances and the criteria for the visa. This failure to properly weigh and consider all relevant material constituted a jurisdictional error. The Court applied the principles established in administrative law concerning the duty of a decision-maker to consider all relevant factors and to not be swayed by irrelevant ones.

Consequently, Judge Smith quashed the Minister's decision and remitted the matter to the Minister for redetermination according to law.

Orders