SZTQD v Minister for Immigration

The applicants, SZTQD and a second applicant, sought judicial review of a decision by the Refugee Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) to refuse their applications for protection visas. The core of the dispute concerned allegations that the Tribunal's decision-making process was flawed, specifically in relation to the second applicant's case.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Tribunal had committed a jurisdictional error. This alleged error arose from two grounds: first, that the Tribunal had improperly prevented the second applicant from presenting her case fully to it, and second, that the Tribunal had failed to consider the second applicant's claims independently of the first applicant's claims.

Judge Cameron found that the Tribunal had indeed committed a jurisdictional error. The court reasoned that the Tribunal's approach had effectively denied the second applicant a proper opportunity to advance her distinct claims for protection. By failing to afford her claims separate consideration, the Tribunal had not engaged with the substance of her individual circumstances and fears, thereby vitiating the fairness and legality of its decision-making process.

Consequently, the court set aside the Tribunal's decision and remitted the matter to the Tribunal for redetermination according to law.