SZVXE v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, SZVXE, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration. The dispute concerned the Refugee and Humanitarian – Complementary Protection Guidelines and the Refugee and Humanitarian – Refugee Law Guidelines, as well as Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) country information assessments, which the applicant argued the Tribunal failed to adequately consider. The matter was heard by Dowdy J.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the Tribunal had properly considered the relevant guidelines and country information as required by Ministerial Direction 56, made under s.499(1) of the Act. Specifically, the Court had to determine if the Tribunal's silence on certain aspects of country information indicated a failure to engage with it, or if it represented a considered decision that such information was irrelevant.

Dowdy J, referencing the reasoning in *SZTMD v Minister of Immigration and Border Protection* [2015] 150 ALD 34, concluded that the Tribunal was obligated to form its own opinion on the relevance of the guidelines and country information. The Court held that, similar to the approach in *SZTMD*, the Tribunal's decision record, which did not extensively detail its consideration of country information, indicated that the Tribunal had addressed the issue and determined it to be irrelevant to the applicant's protection visa claim. The Tribunal's reasoning was that the applicant's political activities were remote in time, he had not been politically active for many years, and he had not demonstrated he would face harm in the foreseeable future. The Court applied the principle that a matter not mentioned in the Tribunal's reasons is presumed not to have been considered material for the purposes of its decision.