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

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for citizenship by descent made by the Applicant, who claimed Mr X was her biological father. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs refused the application. The Applicant sought review of this decision before the Tribunal.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether Mr X was the Applicant's biological father, and whether the Applicant was born in Australia. The Tribunal was required to determine if the evidence presented satisfied the requirements for citizenship by descent under section 16(2) of the relevant Act.

The Tribunal's reasoning was heavily influenced by the DNA evidence, which conclusively showed a 0.00% probability of paternity between Mr X and the Applicant. While the Applicant asserted a parental relationship with Mr X at the time of her birth, the Tribunal found this claim to be of recent origin and contradicted by her earlier admissions. Furthermore, the Tribunal found the Applicant's claim to have taken Mr X's surname at birth unsupported by her own prior statements or contemporaneous documents. Regarding the Applicant's place of birth, the Tribunal gave more weight to the passports issued by the PNG government, which listed her birthplace as Ioma, an External Territory of Papua, rather than Kundiawa as stated on an outdated birth certificate. The Tribunal concluded that the evidence was insufficient to establish that the Applicant was born outside Australia.

Consequently, the Tribunal was not satisfied as to the Applicant's identity or that she met the criteria for citizenship by descent. Accordingly, the decision under review was affirmed.