FVB18 v Minister for Home Affairs

The applicant, FVB18, sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which refused their application for a protection visa. The applicants claimed they feared harm in Fiji. The AAT had disbelieved significant aspects of the applicants' claims and found other asserted fears to be not well-founded. An interlocutory application to dismiss a show cause notice was also considered.

The central legal issue before the court was whether there was an arguable case of jurisdictional error in the AAT's decision to refuse the protection visa. This involved examining whether the AAT had properly considered the evidence before it and applied the relevant legal tests for assessing protection claims.

Judge Driver found that there was no arguable case of jurisdictional error. The court concluded that the AAT had engaged with the applicants' claims and had provided reasons for its findings, including those where the claims were disbelieved or found not to be well-founded. The court determined that the AAT's decision did not exhibit the kind of fundamental error that would constitute jurisdictional error.