Singh v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 1018

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Singh v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 1018 MIGRATION – protection visa application under s 36 Migration Act 1958 (Cth) – application for review under ss 476(1)(g) and 476(4)(b) Migration Act 1958 (Cth) – review of Tribunal decision – whether no evidence or other material to justify decision. Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ss 36, 476(1)(g) and 476(4)(b) Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1976 (Cth) ss 5(1)(h) and 5(3)(b) Curragh Queensland Mining Ltd v Daniel (1992) 34 FCR 212 applied Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Wu Shan Liang (1996) 185 CLR 259 considered

LIEM SAKOLWAREE SINGH v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND

MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS S 1 OF 1999 MANSFIELD J ADELAIDE 21 JULY 1999

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY S 1 OF 1999

BETWEEN: LIEM SAKOLWAREE SINGH

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND

MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: MANSFIELD J

DATE OF ORDER: 21 JULY 1999

WHERE MADE: ADELAIDE

THE COURT ORDERS THAT: 1. Application dismissed. Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY S 1 OF 1999

BETWEEN: LIEM SAKOLWAREE SINGH

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND

MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: MANSFIELD J

DATE: 21 JULY 1999

PLACE: ADELAIDE

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

HIS HONOUR:

1 This is an application for review of a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal ("the Tribunal") given on 7 December 1998 affirming a decision of a delegate of the respondent not to grant to the applicant a protection visa.

Background 2 The applicant was born on 15 October 1958 and is now forty. She was born in Thailand and is a Thai citizen. She arrived in Australia on 13 October 1996 and on 2 January 1997 applied for a protection visa by application dated 24 December 1996. 3 It is a criterion for the grant of a protection visa under s 36 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ("the Act") that she is a person to whom Australia owes protection obligations under the Refugees Convention as amended by the Refugees Protocol (using those terms as defined in the Act). In a practical sense, she must qualify as a refugee under Article 1A(2) of the Refugees Convention if she is to be entitled to the visa sought; namely that she is a person who: "… owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of [her] nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail [herself] of the protection of that country …"