Axh15 v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Axh15, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration to refuse to grant a protection visa. The dispute concerned the Minister's assessment of whether Axh15 would be a person to whom Australia would have protection obligations under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) if returned to their country of origin. The matter came before Driver J of the Federal Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the Minister's decision was affected by an error of law, specifically concerning the assessment of the applicant's claims for protection. This involved determining whether the delegate of the Minister had properly considered all relevant aspects of Axh15's claims, including the risk of persecution or harm, and whether the delegate's findings were supported by the evidence.

Driver J found that the delegate had made an error of law by failing to adequately consider the applicant's claims regarding the risk of harm from non-state actors in their country of origin. The Court held that the delegate's assessment had been unduly narrow, focusing primarily on state-sponsored persecution and not giving sufficient weight to the possibility of harm from other sources that could engage Australia's protection obligations. The legal principle applied was that a delegate must consider all grounds upon which protection might be granted, not just those that appear most prominent.

The Court ordered that the decision of the Minister be set aside and remitted to the Minister for reconsideration according to law.