HAFEEZ v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Mr. Hafeez, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration to refuse his application for a Protection visa. The dispute centred on whether the Minister's delegate had properly considered the applicant's claims of persecution in his country of origin, specifically in relation to his alleged membership of a particular ethnic group and his fear of persecution by a specific non-state actor. The matter came before Judge Emmett of the Federal Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the delegate's decision was affected by jurisdictional error. This involved determining whether the delegate had failed to consider relevant considerations or had taken into account irrelevant considerations when assessing the applicant's claims. Specifically, the Court had to examine whether the delegate had adequately assessed the credibility of the applicant's claims regarding his ethnicity and the nature of the threat posed by the non-state actor, and whether the delegate had properly applied the relevant provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and the *Migration Regulations 1994* (Cth) in light of Australia's international obligations.

Judge Emmett found that the delegate had made a jurisdictional error by failing to properly consider the applicant's claims regarding his ethnicity and the specific threat he faced from the non-state actor. The Court reasoned that the delegate had adopted an overly narrow approach to the assessment of the applicant's fear, failing to engage with the substance of the evidence presented. The delegate's assessment was found to be deficient in its consideration of the particular circumstances of the applicant's alleged persecution, thereby failing to discharge the duty to afford procedural fairness. The Court applied the principles of administrative law concerning the proper exercise of statutory power and the requirement for decision-makers to genuinely consider all relevant evidence.

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