NAEEM v Minister for Immigration

In *Naeem v Minister for Immigration*, the applicant, Mr Naeem, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration to refuse his application for a protection visa. The dispute concerned whether Mr Naeem had established a well-founded fear of persecution for a reason prescribed by the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the delegate's decision to refuse the protection visa was affected by jurisdictional error. This involved determining whether the delegate had failed to consider relevant considerations or had taken into account irrelevant considerations when assessing Mr Naeem's claims of persecution. Specifically, the court had to consider whether the delegate had adequately assessed the credibility of Mr Naeem's account and whether the delegate's findings regarding the risk of harm were open on the evidence.

Judge Riley found that the delegate had made a jurisdictional error by failing to properly assess the credibility of Mr Naeem's claims. The delegate's assessment was found to be superficial and did not engage with the substance of Mr Naeem's evidence in a way that was required. The court applied the principles of administrative law concerning the proper discharge of a decision-maker's duty to consider all relevant evidence and to make findings of fact based on that evidence.

The court ordered that the decision of the Minister be set aside and remitted to the Minister for redetermination according to law.