BZY16 v Minister for Immigration and Anor (No.2)

This matter concerned an application by BZY16 (the applicant) for an extension of time to seek judicial review of a decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal). The Tribunal had affirmed the Minister for Immigration's decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa. The application was heard by Judge Manousaridis in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

The primary legal issues before the Court were whether the applicant had provided an adequate and reasonable explanation for the significant delay in filing his application for judicial review, and whether the grounds of his substantive application for judicial review had sufficient merit to warrant an extension of time.

The Court considered the applicant's various claims for protection, which had been made on multiple occasions, including before the delegate, the Tribunal, and in a statutory declaration dated 9 October 2014. The Tribunal had found some of the applicant's claims, particularly those made in the statutory declaration, to be "radically new" and "problematic," including a claim about witnessing the arrest of a soldier named Mr JD. The Tribunal concluded that the applicant had invented this claim and had not provided a credible reason for not raising it earlier, noting its inconsistency with previous claims about when his difficulties in Fiji began.

Given the Tribunal's adverse findings regarding the credibility and timeliness of the applicant's claims, and the lack of a satisfactory explanation for the delay in seeking judicial review, the Court dismissed the application for an extension of time.