Herijanto, Muin, Lie v Refugee Review Tribunal

Herijanto, Muin, Lie (the applicants) sought judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) to affirm the refusal of their applications for a protection visa. The applicants, who were citizens of Indonesia, claimed to fear persecution in their home country due to their ethnicity and political opinions. The Tribunal had found that the applicants had not established a well-founded fear of persecution.

The primary legal issue before Gaudron J was whether the Tribunal had erred in law in its assessment of the applicants' claims. Specifically, the court was required to consider whether the Tribunal had failed to adequately consider all relevant evidence, including evidence of past persecution and the general country information relating to Indonesia, when making its determination. The question also arose as to whether the Tribunal had applied the correct legal test for establishing a well-founded fear of persecution.

Gaudron J found that the Tribunal had failed to properly consider the evidence presented by the applicants, particularly in relation to their claims of past persecution and the potential for future persecution based on their ethnicity and political opinions. Her Honour held that the Tribunal had not adequately engaged with the specific circumstances of the applicants and had instead applied a generalised approach to the country information. The legal principle applied was that a tribunal must consider all relevant evidence and make findings of fact based on that evidence, rather than relying on broad country information without specific application to the individual case.

The application for judicial review was granted, and the decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal was set aside. The matter was remitted to the Tribunal to be heard and determined according to law.