LCVJ and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

This matter concerned an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by LCVJ (the Applicant) against a decision by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs to refuse his application for Australian citizenship. The refusal was based on the Applicant not meeting the 'good character' requirement. The Applicant had been convicted in the High Court of New Zealand of two counts of indecent assault on a girl under 12 years of age and two counts of unlawful sexual connection with a female under 12 years of age, with the offending occurring between December 1990 and March 1991.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the Applicant was of 'good character' for the purposes of the citizenship application, notwithstanding his criminal convictions. This required the Tribunal to consider the nature of the convictions, the Applicant's continued denial of the offences, and his remorse or lack thereof. The Tribunal had to determine if it could be satisfied that the Applicant was of good character, given the serious nature of the offences for which he was convicted and his persistent assertion of innocence.

The Tribunal Member, Mr Rob Reitano, reasoned that while the Applicant maintained his innocence and claimed to be wrongly convicted, the jury's verdict and the subsequent sentencing by the High Court of New Zealand could not be dismissed as unsound. The Applicant's explanations for his conviction, including allegations of judicial bias and prosecutorial misconduct, were not accepted by the Tribunal as undermining the validity of the convictions. Crucially, the Applicant expressed no remorse for the offences, as he continued to deny their commission. The Tribunal concluded that the Applicant's criminal convictions for serious sexual offences against a minor, coupled with his unremorseful stance, meant that it could not be satisfied that he was of good character.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse the Applicant's application for citizenship.