Baban v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [2000] FCA 1341

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Baban v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [2000] FCA 1341 MIGRATION – appeal from dismissal of application for judicial review of a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal to affirm a decision of a delegate of the Minister not to grant the applicant a protection visa – the applicant claimed to be a militia man in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) who feared persecution, if he returned to Iraq, both by agents of the Iraqi government and by members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party on account of his political opinion – the Tribunal rejected that claim without making any reference to a letter, written on the letterhead of the Australian branch of the PUK, which the applicant produced in support of his claim - the applicant also claimed to be a refugee sur place on the basis that, having departed Iraq illegally, he was likely to suffer harm for a Convention reason upon his return – the Tribunal rejected that claim without dealing specifically with passages in two independent reports about conditions in Iraq which were before it – whether the primary Judge erred in holding that the compliance of the Tribunal's written statement of reasons with the procedures which s 430(1) require it to observe is not reviewable under s 476(1)(a) – whether the primary Judge erred in rejecting, in any event, the submission that the Tribunal's failure to refer to the letter and to deal specifically with the passages in the two reports constituted a failure to comply with s 430(1) – whether the Tribunal's failure to refer to the letter constituted an error of law within the meaning of s 476(1)(e)

Migration Act 1958 (Cth), s 430(1), s 476(1)(a) and (e)

Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Singh [2000] FCA 845, followed Sivasubramaniam v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs [2000] FCA 1035, distinguished Addo v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 940, referred to Re Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; ex parte Durairajasingham (2000) 74 ALJR 405, referred to HEMAN OMAR SHARIF BABAN v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS N 402 Of 2000 GRAY, LEHANE AND MERKEL JJ 21 SEPTEMBER 2000 SYDNEY