FLMJ and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (Citizenship)

This matter concerned an application for Australian citizenship by Mr FLMJ, which was reviewed by Dr L Bygrave, Member, of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The dispute centred on whether Mr FLMJ met the good character requirement for the conferral of Australian citizenship.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether Mr FLMJ was of good character for the purposes of subsection 21(2)(h) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 1948* (Cth). This involved assessing whether his past conduct, specifically domestic violence offences and driving offences, was consistent with the standard of behaviour expected by the Australian community.

Dr Bygrave reasoned that Mr FLMJ's 2013 charges for assaulting and causing harm to his partner were fundamentally inconsistent with the good character requirement, citing the Tribunal's decision in *Re Sharma and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection* [2015] AATA 608, which held that domestic violence weighs heavily against an applicant's good character. Despite Mr FLMJ accepting responsibility and expressing remorse, the absence of character references demonstrating a change in behaviour meant the Tribunal could not be satisfied of his current good character. Furthermore, the Tribunal found that an insufficient period of compliance with Australian law had passed, as Mr FLMJ's good behaviour bond expired only 11 days before his citizenship application. Consequently, the Tribunal was unable to make a positive finding of good character.

The decision under review was affirmed, meaning Mr FLMJ's application for citizenship was unsuccessful. However, the Tribunal noted that this did not preclude him from making a future application, should he be able to demonstrate good character with the passage of time.