YMGF; Secretary, Department of Social Services and (Social services second review)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision by the Department of Social Services to cancel the temporary protection visa of an Iranian national. The applicant, who arrived in Australia in 2012, was granted a temporary protection visa in 2017. The Department issued a notice of intention to cancel his visa following his conviction for multiple offences.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the ground for cancellation under section 116(1)(g) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) was made out, and if so, whether the discretion to cancel the visa should be exercised. The relevant ground for cancellation was that the applicant, as a holder of a temporary visa, had been convicted of an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, a State, or a Territory.

The Tribunal found that the ground for cancellation was established, as the applicant had been convicted of offences. However, the cancellation was discretionary. In considering whether to exercise this discretion, the Tribunal weighed the seriousness of the offending against other factors. These factors included the applicant's well-founded fear of persecution in Iran due to his parents' conversion to Christianity, his severe mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, and PTSD, his dependence on his family, and the significant hardship he would face if detained indefinitely in Australia, which would exacerbate his mental illness and separate him from his primary support network.

The Tribunal concluded that the factors weighing against cancellation were significant. Consequently, the decision to cancel the applicant's visa was set aside.