HSXY and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (Citizenship)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to refuse the Applicant's application for Australian citizenship. The refusal was based on the delegate's dissatisfaction that the Applicant met the "good character" requirement under section 21(2)(h) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). The Applicant sought a review of this decision.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the Applicant was of good character at the time of the Minister's decision. This involved considering the ordinary meaning of "good character" as referring to enduring moral qualities, demonstrated objectively over a sufficient period. The Tribunal also had to assess the weight of various factors, including the Applicant's behaviour, any mitigating circumstances, and his explanations for his conduct, applying community standards rather than personal ones.

The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision, finding that the Applicant had committed acts of domestic violence against his wife, which occurred in the presence of their children. These acts were considered serious and fundamentally inconsistent with the behaviour expected by the Australian community, weighing heavily against a finding of good character. The Tribunal also noted that the Applicant had provided untruthful answers on his citizenship application regarding previous offences and probation orders, for which no satisfactory explanation was offered. Furthermore, the character references provided by the Applicant were given limited weight due to a lack of detail regarding his recent behaviour in family and community settings, and their silence on the issue of domestic violence. The Tribunal concluded that there were no significant mitigating factors to offset these adverse considerations.