Tahery and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

This matter concerned an appeal by Ms Tahery against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal) which had refused her application for the conferral of Australian citizenship. The central dispute revolved around whether the Tribunal was satisfied as to Ms Tahery's identity, given inconsistencies in the information she had provided in previous visa and citizenship applications, and during interviews. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs was the respondent.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Tribunal erred in law by failing to be satisfied as to Ms Tahery's identity. This required the court to consider the evidence presented, including expert evidence regarding the reliability of memory in trauma-exposed populations and individuals under acute stress, and the Tribunal's assessment of the credibility of the applicant's explanations for the discrepancies. The court also had to determine whether the Tribunal's conclusion that it was satisfied as to Ms Tahery's identity was open to it on the evidence, notwithstanding the noted inconsistencies.

The court reasoned that the Tribunal had considered a range of evidence to satisfy itself as to Ms Tahery's identity. This included documentary evidence of her operating under the name "Basera Tahery" both before and after her arrival in Australia, the absence of evidence of others claiming that identity, and comparisons of photographs suggesting familial resemblances. Crucially, the Tribunal took into account the context in which the application forms were prepared, acknowledging that they were often completed by others on Ms Tahery's behalf, and that this, along with the instability in Afghanistan and the potential for memory impairment due to trauma and stress, explained the significant inconsistencies in her life story. The court found that the Tribunal had not erred in law in concluding that it was satisfied as to Ms Tahery's identity.

The court set aside the Tribunal's decision and substituted it with a decision that the Tribunal was satisfied as to Ms Tahery's identity. The matter was remitted for reconsideration of her citizenship application, with a direction that no prohibition applies in respect of the conferral of citizenship on Ms Tahery by reason of section 24(3) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth).