Rahman and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

This matter concerned an application for Australian citizenship by conferral made by Mr. Rahman, a citizen of Bangladesh, who arrived in Australia in 2017. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs refused Mr. Rahman's application on the grounds that he did not satisfy the good character requirement under section 21(2)(h) of the relevant Act. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to review this decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Mr. Rahman possessed the requisite "good character" for the purposes of citizenship by conferral, particularly in light of his conviction for common assault (domestic violence) in November 2020. The Tribunal had to consider the meaning of "good character" as defined by the Citizenship Policy and relevant case law, and whether Mr. Rahman's past conduct, his explanations for it, and his behaviour since the conviction demonstrated that he met this standard.

The Tribunal reasoned that domestic violence is considered a serious matter, fundamentally inconsistent with the expected standards of behaviour in Australian society, and typically weighs heavily against a finding of good character. While acknowledging that an applicant's offending conduct does not necessarily preclude a future finding of good character, the Tribunal found that, based on the evidence before it, it could not be positively satisfied that Mr. Rahman was of good character at the time of the review. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse the application for citizenship.