CHB16 v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, CHB16, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration to refuse to grant a protection visa. The applicant, who claimed to be a citizen of Afghanistan, alleged that they had been persecuted in their home country due to their ethnicity and political opinion. The Minister's delegate had refused the protection visa application, finding that the applicant's claims were not credible and that they had not established a well-founded fear of persecution. The matter came before Judge McNab in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the delegate's decision to refuse the protection visa was affected by jurisdictional error. This involved determining whether the delegate had properly considered all the evidence before them, including the applicant's claims of persecution, and whether the delegate's adverse credibility findings were reasonably open on the material. The Court was also required to consider whether the delegate had applied the correct legal test for establishing a well-founded fear of persecution under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

Judge McNab found that the delegate had made a jurisdictional error in assessing the applicant's claims. The Court held that the delegate had failed to adequately consider certain documentary evidence that supported the applicant's account of events in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the Court determined that the delegate's adverse credibility findings were not reasonably open on the evidence, as they relied on assumptions and inferences that were not supported by the material before them. The Court applied the principles established in cases such as *Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Teoh* and *Applicant V2019 v Minister for Home Affairs*, emphasizing the importance of a thorough and balanced assessment of all relevant evidence when determining protection visa applications.

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