White and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for review of a delegate of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection's decision to refuse Ms Dianne White's application for Australian citizenship. The refusal was based on the delegate's dissatisfaction that the Applicant met the "good character" requirement under section 21(2)(h) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). The Applicant, who arrived in Australia in 1968, applied for citizenship by conferral in September 2013.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the Applicant satisfied the good character requirement, considering her criminal history and any mitigating factors. The Applicant had a history of five court appearances between 2003 and 2010 for offences including wilful damage, stealing, fraud, contravening a police direction, unlawful possession of weapons, and attempted fraud. Although no convictions were recorded, the Tribunal had to assess whether this pattern of offending, spanning seven years, demonstrated a disregard for the law and negatively impacted her character assessment.

The Tribunal reasoned that the assessment of good character involves examining an applicant's behaviour and any mitigating factors, judged by community standards. It noted that the Applicant's pattern of offending, including a charge of attempted fraud which involves dishonesty, weighed heavily against a finding of good character. The Tribunal found the evidence of rehabilitation from pain medication addiction and the asserted alleviation of domestic violence to be less than cogent or credible. Furthermore, the personal references provided did not carry sufficient weight to establish mitigation or extenuating circumstances.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision, finding that the Applicant was not of good character for the purposes of section 21(2)(h) of the Act due to her pattern of offending, lack of credible evidence of rehabilitation, and questionable disclosure of past offending. The Tribunal concluded that the Applicant was not presently eligible for Australian citizenship.