Eba16 v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Eba16, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) concerning their protection visa application. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the AAT had adequately considered the reasonableness of the applicant's potential relocation within their country of origin as part of its assessment of their protection claim. The matter came before Riethmuller J in the Federal Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the AAT had erred in law by failing to consider the reasonableness of the applicant's relocation to another part of their country of origin when assessing whether they could be granted protection. This required the Court to determine the scope of the AAT's obligations in assessing the safety and viability of internal relocation for an applicant seeking protection.

Riethmuller J reasoned that the AAT's assessment of internal relocation must go beyond a mere consideration of whether relocation is physically possible. The Tribunal is required to assess the reasonableness of such relocation, taking into account all relevant circumstances, including whether the applicant would face a real chance of persecution or harm in the proposed place of relocation. The Court found that the AAT had failed to undertake this necessary assessment of reasonableness, thereby committing an error of law.

Consequently, the application for judicial review was allowed.