ZXYM and Director-General of Security

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an adverse security assessment concerning the applicant, ZXYM, which recommended the cancellation of his Partner visa. The Director-General of Security was the respondent. The dispute centred on whether ZXYM posed a danger to the security of Australia due to his past engagement with extremist material and ideology.

The AAT was required to determine whether the applicant's past consumption and sharing of extremist material online, including material in support of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and his opposition to the presence of Australian armed forces in the Middle East, constituted a danger to the security of Australia. The Tribunal also had to assess the reliability of the applicant's stated intention to cease such activities and the weight to be given to evidence of his good character.

The Tribunal affirmed the reviewable decision, finding that the applicant's past conduct of disseminating ISIL propaganda and radicalising online videos, even if ceasing around 2015, made his stated intention not to do so again difficult to accept as reliable. The Tribunal noted the ongoing presence of Australian forces in the Middle East and the likelihood of radical extremist organisations opposing such presence and calling for retaliatory action, including within Australia. The applicant's continued opposition to Australian troops in Syria, despite Australia also opposing the Assad regime, was also a factor. The Tribunal was not confident that the applicant would not again participate in such activity, directly or indirectly, and concluded that laudable personal conduct did not outweigh these concerns. The Tribunal also issued confidential reasons concerning evidence received in the absence of the applicant.