SZMBI v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship

[2008] FCA 1190

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SZMBI v Minister for Immigration & Citizenship [2008] FCA 1190

Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 425

SZMBI v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP and REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL

NSD 766 OF 2008

MARSHALL J
11 AUGUST 2008
SYDNEY

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY	NSD 766 OF 2008

ON APPEAL FROM THE FEDERAL MAGISTRATES COURT OF AUSTRALIA

BETWEEN:

SZMBI
Appellant

AND:

MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP
First Respondent

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL
Second Respondent

JUDGE:	MARSHALL J
DATE OF ORDER:	11 AUGUST 2008
WHERE MADE:	SYDNEY

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1.The appeal is dismissed.

2.The appellant pay the first respondent’s costs fixed in the sum of $1,200.

Note:    Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY	NSD 766 OF 2008

ON APPEAL FROM THE FEDERAL MAGISTRATES COURT OF AUSTRALIA

BETWEEN:

SZMBI
Appellant

AND:

MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP
First Respondent

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL
Second Respondent

JUDGE:	MARSHALL J
DATE:	11 AUGUST 2008
PLACE:	SYDNEY

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

1. The appellant appeals from a judgment of the Federal Magistrates Court which dismissed his application for judicial review of a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal. The Tribunal had affirmed a decision of a delegate of the first respondent Minister to refuse the appellant a protection visa.

2. The appellant is a citizen of India. He claims membership of a social group known as “farmers from Rajasthan”. He claims that Indian authorities denied him civil and political freedom and that as a consequence he suffered from poverty and starvation. He also claims that police in India threatened him after he lodged an information report with them concerning the death of his brother-in-law as a result of speeding and drunk driving by a government bus driver.

3. The Tribunal considered that the appellant’s claim concerning the police did not disclose fear of persecution for a Refugee Convention reason, but was a mere indication of corruption or maladministration at a local level. The Tribunal also held that farmers from Rajasthan were not treated differently from other members of Indian society by reason of membership of that particular social group. Indeed, the Tribunal found that the appellant’s membership of that group was not the essential or a significant reason for his claimed persecution, which manifested in his alleged lack of political and civil freedom. The Tribunal was not satisfied that the appellant had a well founded fear of persecution if returned to India in the reasonably foreseeable future.

4. The Court below held that the Tribunal complied with its obligation under s 425 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) to invite the appellant to appear at the hearing. The Federal Magistrate considered that the appellant had not been denied natural justice and that no other jurisdictional error had been committed by the Tribunal.

5. The appellant’s grounds of appeal appear not to have been drawn by a lawyer. I interpret them as taking issue with the correctness of the judgment below. I reject that contention. The judgment below is free of appellable error and the Tribunal decision is free of jurisdictional error. The findings of the Tribunal were open to it on the material before it. The appellant raised with the Court a matter not covered by his grounds of appeal. That matter concerned the advice of his migration agent not to tender documentary evidence before the Tribunal. There is no evidence before the Court below or before this Court which could establish that the decision of the Tribunal was affected by migration agent fraud.

I certify that the preceding five (5) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment herein of the Honourable Justice Marshall.

Associate:
Dated:        11 August 2008

The Appellant appeared in person.
Solicitor for the First Respondent:	Ms B Anniwell for Australian Government Solicitor

Date of Hearing:	11 August 2008
Date of Judgment:	11 August 2008