NABF v MIMIA

[2004] HCATrans 338

[2004] HCATrans 338

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Office of the Registry
  Sydney  No S484 of 2003

B e t w e e n -

NABF

Applicant

and

MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

Respondent

Application for special leave to appeal

GLEESON CJ
HEYDON J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT SYDNEY ON FRIDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2004, AT 11.32 AM

Copyright in the High Court of Australia

NABF appeared in person.

MR S.B. LLOYD:   May it please the Court, I appear for the Minister.  (instructed by Sparke Helmore)

IQBAL HYE CHOWDHURY, affirmed as interpreter:

GLEESON CJ:   Go ahead.  If you need the services of the interpreter you just let us know.  If you want to speak without the interpreter you do so.  You take your own course.

NABF:   Thank you, your Honour.  I will speak by myself, but when I do not understand then I will go through him.

GLEESON CJ:   Okay.  Just come in front of the microphone.

NABF:   Thank you.

GLEESON CJ:   Go ahead.

NABF:   Firstly, I want to thank you, your Honour, to give me a chance to talk about my case.  Today I am here requesting you to grant my appeal because, as you know, I informed the Court that my financial position is not that much better, so I…..for my kids, but I believe there is some error which has been done by the Tribunal and as well the Full Federal Court.  I found that they just go through with the Tribunal decision in viewing the Tribunal because I speak with the Tribunal member about the situation.  At that time she was not agree with me with some of the things.

Finally, nowadays if you – because most of the information had been mentioned in the judgment.  That was from the, what is called country information just given by the local Embassy.  Nowadays, if you look at the present situation in Bangladesh it proves that I am correct, because at that time I mentioned the Tribunal member that the law and order was like this, and at that time she says, “No, it’s not like this and this and this”.

But at the moment the situation is what I told her, that was right.  So I try to speak it again in the other court, and at that moment it did not go through the same way.  That is why I came to your Honour to get a permission from you to allow me so that my whole situation can be reviewed by another Tribunal member so that I can get some fair things.

Also yesterday – I do not know…..something to one of these things…..your Honour.  Thank you very much.  So that is why I am requesting you again to give me a second chance so that I can explain my whole situation again in the RRT so that I can get a fair listen about my case.  That is all, your Honour.

GLEESON CJ:   Thank you.  We have read your written material.  Thank you.

NABF:   Thank you very much, sir.

GLEESON CJ:   This is an application for special leave to appeal from a judgment of the Full Court of the Federal Court given in May 2003.  As to the applicant’s claim that the decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal in relation to him should be reconsidered, we are of the view that there is no reason to doubt the correctness of the decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court.

As to the claim raised for the first time in this Court in the written materials that the Tribunal denied procedural fairness to the applicant’s wife, that is a matter that was not raised in the Federal Court.  If it had been raised in the Federal Court, it is a matter that could and probably would have required evidence from one side or the other in order for the Federal Court to consider the merits of the matter.  In those circumstances, it is not open to raise the matter for the first time in this Court. 

For those reasons we consider that the application should be dismissed with costs.

AT 11.38 AM THE MATTER WAS CONCLUDED