Muin, Lie v RRT

This matter concerned an application for leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia by Lie Muin (the applicant) against a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT). The applicant, a citizen of Indonesia, sought protection in Australia on the basis of claims of persecution. The RRT had affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse to grant the applicant a protection visa.

The primary legal issue before McHugh J was whether the applicant had demonstrated a "real chance" of suffering persecution for a Convention reason, as required by s 36(2)(b) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). This involved considering whether the applicant's fear of persecution was well-founded and whether the RRT had erred in its assessment of the evidence and the applicable legal principles.

McHugh J considered the applicant's claims in light of the High Court's previous pronouncements on the "real chance" test, particularly in *Chan v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs* (1989) 169 CLR 379. His Honour found that the RRT had not made any error of law in its assessment of the evidence or its application of the relevant legal standard. The RRT's findings were open to it on the evidence before it, and therefore, the applicant had not established an arguable case of error.

Leave to appeal was refused.