BIW15 v Minister for Immigration

This matter came before Judge Howard of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. The applicant, BIW15, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT). The dispute concerned the validity of the applicant's application for review of a decision to refuse to grant a protection visa.

The court was required to determine whether the RRT had jurisdiction to review the applicant's case. Specifically, the court considered grounds of review alleging that the RRT failed to give good consideration to the applicant's explanation and that it was unfair not to accept the review application. The court also examined whether the applicant had lodged their application for review within the prescribed time limit.

Judge Howard found that the RRT had indeed considered the applicant's explanation, as evidenced in paragraph 5 of its decision. The court concluded that the grounds of review, particularly the third ground, which suggested a failure to accord procedural fairness, were unsustainable due to deeming provisions within the relevant legislation. The court determined that the applicant had been taken to have been notified of the primary decision on 10 April 2015, meaning the 28-day period for lodging an application for review expired on 8 May 2015. As the applicant lodged their application on 11 May 2015, it was out of time. The court found no demonstration of jurisdictional error by the RRT and concluded that the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to review the delegate's decision.

Consequently, the application filed on 14 July 2015 was dismissed.