Thuraisamy v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 812

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Thuraisamy v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 812 MURALEEKARAN THURAISAMY v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS N 501 of 1999 LINDGREN J 11 AUGUST 1999 SYDNEY

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY N 501 OF 1999

BETWEEN: MURALEEKARAN THURAISAMY

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: LINDGREN J

DATE OF ORDER: 11 AUGUST 1999

WHERE MADE: SYDNEY

THE COURT ORDERS THAT: 1. The application be dismissed. 2. The applicant pay the respondent's costs. Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY N 501 OF 1999

BETWEEN: MURALEEKARAN THURAISAMY

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: LINDGREN J

DATE: 11 AUGUST 1999

PLACE: SYDNEY

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT INTRODUCTION 1 The applicant applies under s 476(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ("the Act") for review of a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal ("RRT") dated 3 May 1999. The RRT affirmed a decision of a delegate of the respondent ("the Minister") not to grant the applicant a protection visa. Section 65 of the Act provides that the Minister may grant a visa only if satisfied that the criteria for it prescribed by the Act or the Migration Regulations have been satisfied. Section 36 of the Act provides that a criterion for a protection visa is that the applicant be a non-citizen in Australia to whom Australia has protection obligations under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28 July 1951, as amended by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees done at New York on 31 January 1967 (compendiously, "the Convention"). Article 1A(2) of the Convention provides that a refugee is any person who: "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons for race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it." 2 The applicant's case is that he is outside the country of his nationality, Sri Lanka, and is unwilling to return to it because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race and imputed political opinion.