MZXEV v Minister for Immigration

Case

[2007] FMCA 1285

6 August 2007


FEDERAL MAGISTRATES COURT OF AUSTRALIA

MZXEV & ORS v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & ANOR [2007] FMCA 1285
MIGRATION – Refugee Review Tribunal – judicial review – procedural fairness – obligation of tribunal to provide reasons.
Migration Act, 1958, ss.91R, 430

Minister for Immigration & Ethnic Affairs v Wu Shan Liang [1996] HCA 6; (1996) 185 CLR 259

Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Yusuf (2001) 206 CLR 323
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v VOAO & VOAP [2005] FCAFC 50
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v SGLB [2004] HCA 32; (2004) 207 ALR 12
S1891 of 2003 v Minister for Immigration [2005] FMCA 1069
SFGB v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2003] FCAFC 231; (2003) 77 ALD 402

SZFAT v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2006] FCA 1062

Applicants: MZXEV MZXEW MZXEX
First Respondent: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & CITIZENSHIP
Second Respondent: REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL
File number: MLG 1028 of 2006
Judgment of: Riethmuller FM
Hearing date: 27 March 2007
Date of last submission: 11 May 2007
Delivered at: Melbourne
Delivered on: 6 August 2007

REPRESENTATION

Counsel for the Applicant: Mr Rigby
Counsel for the Respondent: Mr Knowles
Solicitors for the Respondent: Australian Government Solicitor

ORDERS

  1. That the application be dismissed.

  2. That the applicant pay the first respondent’s costs fixed at $5000.00.

FEDERAL MAGISTRATES
COURT OF AUSTRALIA AT
MELBOURNE

MLG 1028 of 2006

MZXEV MZXEW MZXEX

Applicants

And

MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & CITIZENSHIP

First Respondent

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL

Second Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

  1. The applicants in this matter are a family from Sri Lanka, comprising a husband, wife and their son.  They entered Australia on 28 December 1998, and on 8 February 1999 lodged an application with the Department of Immigration & Multicultural Affairs (as it then was) for protection visas.  The husband, the primary applicant, is the claim the subject of this application.  The applications of the applicant wife and son rise or fall on the husband’s application.

  2. The application was initially refused by a delegate of the Minister and then reviewed by the Refugee Review Tribunal, which handed down its first decision on 25 August 2000.  Following judicial review proceedings in the Federal Magistrates Court this decision was quashed and the matter remitted to the Tribunal.  The second Tribunal decision occurred on 2 November 2005, again affirming the delegate’s decision.  This decision was also the subject of judicial review proceedings whereby consent orders were made quashing the second Tribunal decision and remitting the matter to be again heard by the Tribunal.  The most recent hearing before the Tribunal occurred on 14 June 2006 where the husband, wife and several witnesses gave oral evidence, were assisted by a representative at the hearing, and had provided further material to the Tribunal.  On 30 June 2006 the Tribunal again affirmed the delegate’s decision.

  3. Judicial review proceedings were again lodged in the Federal Magistrates Court on 14 August 2006, and the matter came before a Registrar on 6 September 2006.  The matter was then adjourned to 20 December 2006 when the matter came before McInnis FM.  The matter was subsequently listed before me on 27 March 2007 when I heard oral submissions followed by receiving further written submissions from the parties on 20 April 2007 and 11 May 2007.

Nature of the claim

  1. The applicant’s claims before the Tribunal were based upon three factors:

    a)His political opinion, being a supporter of the SLFP (the Sri Lankan Freedom party);

    b)His ethnicity, being mixed Burgher and Tamil; and

    c)His religion, (being a Roman Catholic).

  2. As the counsel for the Minister notes in the submissions, the claims with respect to past persecution did not relate to persecution on the basis of religion, however the claim with respect to the risk of future persecution included religion as one of the grounds.

  3. The Tribunal member canvassed the claims in some detail at pages 21 to 27 of their decision, largely rejecting the applicant’s claims.  The Tribunal did not accept that he had more than a ‘limited or peripheral involvement in the SLFP’.  As such, the Tribunal did not accept that he was a person who was likely to have come to the adverse notice of the UNP nor be singled out for particular attention by the UNP supporters.  In the course of evidence before the Tribunal member, the applicant appeared to accept that he was unlikely to be singled out for harm as a result of his political activity but explained that he became a target of persecution because he was a Burgher and that his mother was a Tamil.  The Tribunal member did not accept that Burghers were vulnerable to any particular harm as a result of their involvement in the political processes as a result of country information.  In any event, the Tribunal concluded that it did not accept that he was actually harassed by repeated telephone calls as claimed by the applicant.

  4. The Tribunal member also concluded that even if they were in error in finding that the telephone calls had not been made, that the nature of the calls did not amount to ‘serious harm’ as a result of the vague and imprecise nature of the threats.  The Tribunal member rejected the applicant’s claims that rocks had been thrown onto his roof and found letters from a doctor with respect to claims about an assault of little assistance as the correspondence did not set out the history given to the doctor given at the time of the consultation, but merely made claims that bodily harm had been suffered due to his political involvements.  Ultimately the Tribunal member did not accept that the applicant had been assaulted on the occasions claimed because of his ethnicity or political opinion or for any other Convention reason.

  5. With respect to his concerns about harm in the future as a result of being a practising Christian, the Tribunal said:

    The applicant also claims that, as a practising Christian, he would be exposed, should he return to Sri Lanka, to serious harm for that reason.  Certainly country information (noted above) refers to an increase in harassment of Christians and attacks on their property and places of worship by Buddhist extremists.  I accept that the applicant is a practising Christian and a member of the Roman Catholic Church.  He says that part of his obligation as a Christian is to convert people to his faith and I note his former connection with YMCA.  I accept that that is son, and I accept that the country information referred to suggests that Buddhist extremists are antipathetic to members of churches who seek to convert Buddhists to Christianity.  I do not accept, however, that there is anything more than a remote chance that the applicant would suffer serious harm amounting to persecution by reason of his religion should he return to Sri Lanka no or in the reasonably foreseeable future.

  6. The relevant parts of the applicant’s amended grounds of application are as follows:

    1.  …

    Particulars

    The Tribunal stated that it did not accept “that there is anything more than a remote chance that the applicant would suffer serious harm amounting to persecution by reason of his religion” when there is no evidence for the finding that the chance is “remote” 

    2. The decision under review is not a “private clause decision” because the Tribunal committed jurisdiction error in making a finding that there was only a “remote chance that the applicant would suffer serious harm amounting to persecution by reason of his religion” when such finding was irrational, illogical, or not based on findings or inferences of fact supported by logical grounds.

    Particulars

    (a)The Tribunal accepted that the applicant is a practising Christian and part of his obligation as a Christian is to convert people to  his faith;

    (b)The Tribunal had regard to (and quoted) country information which included references to:

    ·an increase in harassment and attacks on Christians and their property and places worship;

    ·Buddhist extremists as antipathetic to members of churches who seek to convert Buddhists to Christianity;

    ·The preparation of anti-conversion legislation and the ruling of the Supreme Court that the Constitution does not support the right to proselytise;

    ·claims by some Christian groups that the Government tacitly condoned harassment and violence; and

    (c)The Tribunal did not make any other findings adverse to the applicant on the religion ground (except for its conclusion that there is no more than a remote chance of serious harm amounting to persecution).

Ground 1

  1. The applicant argues that he has an obligation to attempt to convert people to his Christian faith and that in Sri Lanka there is proposed parliamentary legislation against large scale proselytising, and that there had been a number of attacks upon Christians engaged in proselytising.  In supplementary submissions the applicant expanded this ground to include a claim that the Tribunal member had failed to comply with s.430 of the Act which provides:

    430   [Refugee Review Tribunal to record its decisions etc]      (1) Where the Tribunal makes its decision on a review, the Tribunal must prepare a written statement that:

    (a) sets out the decision of the Tribunal on the review; and

    (b) sets out the reasons for the decision; and

    (c) sets out the findings on any material questions of fact; and

    (d) refers to the evidence or any other material on which the findings of fact were based.

    (3)    Where the Tribunal has prepared the written statement, the Tribunal must:

    (a) return to the Secretary any document that the Secretary has provided in relation to the review; and

    (b) give the Secretary a copy of any other document that contains evidence or material on which the findings of fact were based.

  2. Counsel for the Minister relied upon Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Yusuf (2001) 206 CLR 323, and the comments by Jacobson J in SZFAT v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2006] FCA 1062 at 11:

    [11] The grounds of appeal based upon breach of s 430 of the Migration Act must fail. A fair reading of the detailed decision of the RRT shows that there is no basis for any claim that s 430 has been breached. In any event, breach of s 430 of the Migration Act does not of itself give rise to jurisdictional error; see Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Yusuf (2001) 206 CLR 323, at [35], [68]-[69].

  3. The real gravamen of the case for the applicant is as set out in para.5 of the submissions of the applicants:

    5.  In relation to its obligations under s430, the RRT:

    ·     failed to set out findings on the material questions of fact as to whether the attacks in Sri Lanka constituted (or could constitute) “persecution”: s430(1)(c);

    ·     failed to set out findings on material questions of fact leading to its conclusion that the chance was “remote” that the applicant “would suffer serious harm amounting to persecution… should  he return to Sri Lanka…”: s430(1)(c); and

    ·     failed to refer to the evidence or any other material on which it based the finding of fact that the chance was “remote” that the applicant “would suffer serious harm amounting to persecutions… should he return to Sri Lanka…”: s430(1)(d).

  4. Whilst failure to provide reasons is not, of itself, sufficient to grant judicial review for the reasons set out by the High Court in Yusuf, the applicant develops the argument by analogy to cases where findings are made in the absence of any evidence.  The applicant relies upon SFGB v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2003] FCAFC 231; (2003) 77 ALD 402 at 19 to 20 where the Full Court said:

    [19] Th[e] argument, if it were made out, would be sufficient to establish that the Tribunal had made a `jurisdictional error’ so as to found jurisdiction in this Court to intervene. If the Tribunal makes a finding and that finding is a critical step in its ultimate conclusion and there is no evidence to support that finding then this may well constitute a jurisdictional error: see Australian Broadcasting Tribunal v Bond (1990) 170 CLR 321 at 355-357. If the decision of the Tribunal was `Wednesbury’ unreasonable or if the material on which the Tribunal relied was so inadequate that the only inference was that the Tribunal applied the wrong test or was not, in reality, satisfied in respect of the correct test, then there would also be jurisdictional error: see Re Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; Ex parte Applicant S20/2002 (2003) 198 ALR 59 (`S20’) at 62, 67, 76, 90-91.

    [20] On the other hand, if there is sufficient evidence or other information before the Tribunal on which it could reach the conclusion it did then it is for the Tribunal to determine what weight it gives to that evidence. Indeed, unless the relevant fact can be identified as a `jurisdictional fact’, there is no error of law, let alone a jurisdictional error, in the Tribunal making a wrong finding of fact: Attorney-General (NSW) v Quin (1990) 170 CLR 1 at 35-36. It is for the Tribunal to determine the merit of the claim. The line between merit review and jurisdictional error may not be a `bright line’, but it is nevertheless an essential one: Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Wu Shan Liang (1996) 185 CLR 259 at 272.

  5. The applicant points to Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v VOAO & VOAP [2005] FCAFC 50 at [5] where the Full Court considered this issue in the context of negative findings. There the Full Court said:

    [5]    Counsel for the appellant accept that an error of law will be established if it appears that the Tribunal has made a finding of fact, or has drawn an inference, without any supporting probative evidence. They also accept that this error will amount to jurisdictional error if the Tribunal’s decision is based on such a finding. In our opinion this is such a case, although the application of the principle is here complicated by the circumstance that the relevant finding was of a negative, rather than positive, character.

  6. The conclusions of the Full Court in VOAO are best understood in the context of the case then before the court.  As the Full Court set out:

    [7]    However, the male respondent did not limit his claimed fear of persecution to matters arising out of his former employment. He put a wider claim that Jewish people were subject to a general threat of persecution in Kyrghyzstan. Having regard to the nature of this claim, the Tribunal not unnaturally sought authoritative information about the treatment of Jews in Kyrghyzstan.

    [10] The respondents draw attention to the opening sentence in this passage, in which the Tribunal referred to ‘the absence of any mention of either an event or an attitude that would support the [male respondent’s] claim that he was and would be persecuted as a Jew in Kyrghyzstan’. They say this statement, although accurate in relation to the 2001 edition of the Report was simply wrong, as applied to the 2002 edition. That edition, although generally reassuring about the treatment of Jews in Kyrghyzstan, contains the following statement:

    ‘In March 2002, members of the country’s Jewish Cultural Society reported that they had heard calls for violence against Jews issued in Russian and Kyrgyz from a loudspeaker at a mosque in central Bishkek. According to the Israeli Embassy in Almaty, the Government is investigating.’

  7. The decision in VOAO involved a finding that there was no mention of any event or attitude that would support VOAO’s claim.  There was evidence of attitudes that the tribunal failed to have regard to.

  8. At this point it is convenient to refer to the definition of ‘persecution’ in the Act.  This is provided for in s.91R(1) in the following terms:

    91R [Persecution] (1)   For the purposes of the application of this Act and the regulations to a particular person, Article 1A(2) of the Refugees Convention as amended by the Refugees Protocol does not apply in relation to persecution for one or more of the reasons mentioned in that Article unless:

    (a) that reason is the essential and significant reason, or those reasons are the essential and significant reasons, for the persecution; and

    (b)   the persecution involves serious harm to the person; and

    (c)   the persecution involves systematic and discriminatory conduct.

    (2)    Without limiting what is serious harm for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), the following are instances of serious harm for the purposes of that paragraph:

    (a)   a threat to the person’s life or liberty;

    (b)   significant physical harassment of the person;

    (c)   significant physical ill‑treatment of the person;

    (d) significant economic hardship that threatens the person’s capacity to subsist;

    (e)   denial of access to basic services, where the denial threatens the person’s capacity to subsist;

    (f)   denial of capacity to earn a livelihood of any kind, where the denial threatens the person’s capacity to subsist.

    (3)    For the purposes of the application of this Act and the regulations to a particular person:

    (a) in determining whether the person has a well‑founded fear of being persecuted for one or more of the reasons mentioned in Article 1A(2)      of the Refugees Convention as amended by the Refugees Protocol;

    disregard any conduct engaged in by the person in Australia unless:

    (b) the person satisfies the Minister that the person engaged in the conduct otherwise than for the purpose of strengthening the person’s claim to be a refugee within the meaning of the Refugees Convention as amended by the Refugees Protocol.

  9. In this case the primary claim of the applicant related to his political activities, although he also pursued his claim on the basis of being a practising Roman Catholic.  It is important to place in context the material findings of the Tribunal.  At page 9 of the decision the applicant’s case in this regard was set out by the Tribunal as follows:

    The applicant further claimed that, as a practising Christian, he was exposed to harm.  There have been recent instances of Christians in Sri Lanka being persecuted.  Part of his obligation as a practising Roman Catholic is to talk to people about his faith and to convert them to his faith, and that would expose him to harm.

    The applicant’s migration agent observed that the applicant had been in Australia now for about eight years and now has three children.  He had derived no financial benefit from being in Australia, though his bridging visa permitted him to work for two years, he was not again permitted to work until November 2005.  He would face hardship if he were required to return to Sri Lanka.

  10. The applicant’s wife (also an applicant) was recorded as having said:

    Mrs [MZXEV] and her migration agent, said that she relied upon her husband’s claims, that she feared persecution because she was a member of a particular social group, being her husband’s family, and because of her Roman Catholic beliefs.  She said that she had struggled really hard, because of what had happened to her family, that she could not go back to Sri Lanka for fear of her life.  She had been sent to Australia by her husband so that she could have a break.

  11. The Tribunal set out in some detail country information with respect to Roman Catholics in Sri Lanka (from pages 17 to 20), which included references to attacks on a World Vision office in February 2004 and an arson of a Catholic shrine in January 2004, and an arson of St Michael’s Church in Kutwana in December 2004.  Other incidences of religious violence between Christians and Muslims and Buddhists are referred to in the material.

  12. I have set out above the Tribunal’s ultimate findings on this point.

  1. This is not a case where the applicant has alleged specific events that are said to show that he or his family have been persecuted in the past.  There are no specific incidents that have occurred which the Tribunal can weigh against the definition of persecution.  The only evidence of specific events is that contained in the country information, coupled with the generalised fear expressed by the applicant. 

  2. In the absence of claims of specific harm that is likely to befall the applicants, it is difficult for the Tribunal to be criticised for failing to deal specifically with particular forms of harm in determining whether or not persecution could occur.  On the material before the Tribunal, it appears to me that the findings were clearly open to it.

  3. The meticulous analysis of the Tribunal decision being undertaken by the applicant is not a reasonable method by which to review the decision.  I am mindful of what the High Court said in Minister for Immigration & Ethnic Affairs v Wu Shan Liang [1996] HCA 6; (1996) 185 CLR 259:

    [31]  … the reasons of an administrative decision-maker are meant to inform and not to be scrutinised upon over-zealous judicial review by seeking to discern whether some inadequacy may be gleaned from the way in which the reasons are expressed.

  4. The applicant sought to draw support form the decision of FM Smith in S1891 of 2003 v Minister for Immigration [2005] FMCA 1069. The facts before the Tribunal in this case are very different to those before the Tribunal in S1891 of 2003. In that case the Tribunal failed to discuss and consider the details of specific incidents the applicant claimed had occurred prior to her departure from Fiji to Australia. This led to a finding that the Tribunal had applied the wrong test.

  5. With respect to the first dot point of counsels writing argument, there is no reason for the Tribunal to make findings that any particular conduct referred to in country information is ‘persecution’ in the abstract.  The meaning of ‘persecution’ requires a consideration of the impact of conduct upon the applicant.  In this case there was no suggestion of particular conduct that the applicant claimed would be directed at him.

  6. The second and third matters that the applicant is critical of are the Tribunal’s findings that any chance of persecution was remote.  He said that the Tribunal ought to have made findings on material questions of fact which would allow it to then make a finding as to remoteness. 

  7. The evidence provided by way of statements for the Tribunal included references from parish priests who described the family as practising members of the parish in Australia, a lengthy letter from a parish priest in Sri Lanka who identifies no violence on the basis of religion, but describes the applicant as:

    Both of them are fine Catholics, whom I have had the pleasure of knowing since they were young children.  Schooled in leading Catholic colleges in Colombo, Steve at St Peters College and Roshelle at Holy Family Convent.  In the true spirits of these institutions beside striving for academic excellence the value of good moral character, the practice of basic human empathy and kindness was stressed as the greater purpose of life.

  8. The letter makes it apparent that from the parish priest’s perspective the violence said to have been suffered by the applicant related to his political activities.  It does not outline any threats to members of the Catholic community in Sri Lanka or fears in this regard.  In submissions of 13 June 2006 from their migration agent no reference was made to violence on the basis of religion.  Similarly, in earlier submissions of 2 August 2000 the claim on the basis of political persecution was discussed in detail without reference to religious persecution.

  9. In their agent’s submissions of 13 June 2006, only two paragraphs are devoted to religious violence in the following terms:

    Pursuant to the [MZXEV] family’s claims of fear and persecution due to their religious (Catholic) beliefs, we would submit these claims are ‘well founded’ and that they would have a real and genuine fear of persecution due to these religious (Catholic) beliefs.

    We submit that there has been an increase of religious violence and related property damage in Sri Lanka in the recent past and that this means the fears of the [MZXEV] family are justified (references to articles and reports omitted).

  10. As with the previous point, there were no specific incidents or allegations of fact for which the Tribunal to make findings upon.  The Tribunal accepted that the applicant and his wife were Catholics.  It was not suggested that they had been the subject of persecution in the past, nor was there detail before the Tribunal of the precise conduct that the applicant and his wife said that they had engaged in Australia or were likely to engage in on return to Sri Lanka.  Indeed the conduct that they have engaged in whilst in Australia, from which the Tribunal could make findings, is the first step of a process of making findings as to the likelihood of that conduct bringing them to the attention of religious extremists prepared to attack members of other religions in ways similar to that described in the country information.

  11. In the context of this material it is difficult to see what further reasons the Tribunal member could give.  They had before them evidence that the parties were Roman Catholics and had participated in the church both in Sri Lanka and Australia as good parishioners.  The evidence does not appear to have gone further than that.  There is no evidence of specific persecution of them as a result of their religion, but generalised fears of return to Sri Lanka based upon country information outlined by the Tribunal.  The Tribunal outlined the relevant evidence and reached a conclusion as to whether or not they were likely to be persecuted.

  12. It appears to me to be an error of reasoning to attempt to apply cases relating to findings by Tribunals in the absence of an evidentiary basis with the failure of a Tribunal to find certain circumstances occurred - that is, a lack of satisfaction - where it is for the Tribunal to assess the weight that they place upon evidence before them.  Whilst there may be some cases where the evidence before the Tribunal is so overwhelming that detailed and cogent reasons would be required before rejecting it, this case could not possibly fall in to such a category.

  13. The same argument applies with respect to the claims that the Tribunal ought not to have found that the risks to the applicant were remote.  The relevant evidence was identified by the Tribunal.  There was little evidence for them to make an assessment upon.  The Tribunal gave reasons commensurate with the level of detail of the material before them.

  14. In the circumstances I am not satisfied that ground 1 provides a basis for judicial review.

Ground 2

  1. In support of ground 2 the applicant, in substance, argued that the failure of the Tribunal to accept that the applicant would be at a real risk of persecution as a result of his religious faith was ‘irrational, illogical or not based on findings or inferences of fact supported by logical grounds’.

  2. In support of this proposition the applicant relied upon comments in Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v SGLB [2004] HCA 32; (2004) 207 ALR 12 at [38] by Gummow and Hayne JJ:

    [38] The satisfaction of the criterion that the applicant is a non-citizen to whom Australia has the relevant protection obligations may include consideration of factual matters but the critical question is whether the determination was irrational, illogical and not based on findings or inferences of fact supported by logical grounds [Re Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; Ex parte Applicant S20/2002 (2003) 77 ALJR 1165 at 1172 [37], 1175 [52], 1194 [173]; cf at 1168 [9]; 198 ALR 59 at 67, 71, 98; cf at 62.]. If the decision did display these defects, it will be no answer that the determination was reached in good faith. To say that a decision-maker must have acted in good faith is to state a necessary but insufficient requirement for the attainment of satisfaction as a criterion of jurisdiction under s 65 of the Act. However, inadequacy of the material before the decision-maker concerning the attainment of that satisfaction is insufficient in itself to establish jurisdictional error.

  3. In response to this ground the counsel for the Minister stated:

    [29]  As discussed at paragraph 30 of the first respondent’s contentions, this information did record an increase in attacks on Christian churches and “sometimes pastors and congregants” (emphasis added) [BC 376.6-8].  It recorded that these attacks were conducted by Buddhist extremists [CB 376.6].  It also stated that the attacks had occurred “in particular against evangelical groups” [CB 376.8].  Finally, the country information stated that “[s]ome Christian groups sometimes complained that the Government tacitly condoned harassment and violence” (emphasis added) [CB 377.8].  The information stated that “[i]n some cases, the police response was inadequate” (emphasis added) [CB 377.9].  This information was not unequivocally supportive of the applicant’s case.

    [30]  Also, the country information stated that, while some problems existed, the Sri Lankan constitution provided for freedom of religion and this right was publicly endorsed by the government [CB 376.5].  It recorded that “major political and religious leaders have publicly condemned the attacks and police have arrested and prosecuted close to a dozen people in connection with the incidents” [CB 376.8 and 378.3-4].  It also said that there existed “generally amicable relations among persons of different faiths” [CB 376.9] and that “[d]iscrimination based on religious difference is much less common than discrimination based on ethnicity” [CB 378.5 and 379.9].  The information referred to the government’s “renewed emphasis on the work of national councils for interfaith understanding” [CB 377.4].  The information also referred to the authorities’ response to allegations of religiously-motivated attacks [CB 378.6-379.8].

    [31]  Therefore, the country information did not conclusively support the applicant’s claims.  The applicants now ask the Court to re-assess this country information in a particular fashion.  However, the assessment of this evidence was a matter for the Tribunal.  Moreover, the Tribunal was obliged to consider the country information in light of the applicant’s claims.  The applicant had not claimed to have experienced any previous harm in Sri Lanka on account of his religion.  In this context, it was plainly open to the Tribunal to find that the chance of the applicant experiencing religiously-motivated persecution in future was “remote”

  4. I accept the Minister’s submissions on this point.

  5. It was clearly open to the Tribunal to reach the conclusion that it did.  The material did not, of itself, create a situation where the only outcome that could rationally follow would be an acceptance of the case for the applicant.

Conclusion

  1. In the circumstances of this case I am not satisfied that the applicant has established a ground for judicial review and therefore I refuse the application.  The orders will be that the application be dismissed.

I certify that the preceding forty-one (41) paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for judgment of Riethmuller FM

Deputy Associate: Averil Tan

Date:  6 August 2007

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