SZSKX v Minister for Immigration & Anor

The applicant, SZSKX, sought judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) which found it lacked jurisdiction to consider the applicant's review application because it was lodged out of time. The applicant's representative had faxed the application to the RRT before the due date, but the RRT had no record of receiving it.

The central legal issue before the Federal Court was whether the RRT had erred in law by concluding it lacked jurisdiction. This required the Court to determine whether the applicant had successfully lodged their review application within the prescribed time limit, notwithstanding the RRT's lack of a record of receipt.

Justice Driver found that the RRT had not committed a jurisdictional error. The Court accepted the RRT's evidence that the application had not been received, and that the absence of a record of receipt was sufficient evidence of non-receipt. The Court noted that the onus was on the applicant to prove that the application was lodged within time, and this had not been discharged. The Court also made observations regarding the RRT's inability to extend the time for lodging a review application.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.