Perera v Minister For Immigration and Multicultural Affairs [2000] FCA 1750

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Perera v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [2000] FCA 1750 MANDAWALA KANKANAMAGE PERERA v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS N 689 OF 2000 SUNDBERG, EMMETT and STONE JJ 1 DECEMBER 2000 SYDNEY

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY N 689 OF 2000

BETWEEN: MANDAWALA KANKANAMAGE PERERA

APPELLANT

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

RESPONDENT

JUDGES: SUNDBERG, EMMETT and STONE JJ

DATE OF ORDER: 1 DECEMBER 2000

WHERE MADE: SYDNEY

THE COURT ORDERS THAT: 1. The appeal be dismissed. 2. The appellant pay the respondent's costs of the appeal, to be taxed in default of agreement. 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 689 OF 2000

BETWEEN: MANDAWALA KANKANAMAGE PERERA

APPELLANT

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

RESPONDENT

JUDGES: SUNDBERG, EMMETT and STONE JJ

DATE: 1 DECEMBER 2000

PLACE: SYDNEY

EX TEMPORE REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

BACKGROUND 1 The appellant is a 52 year old Sri Lankan man of Sinhalese extraction who arrived in Australia on 20 October 1997. He lodged an application for a protection visa on 14 January 1998. The application was rejected by a delegate of the respondent. The appellant applied to the Refugee Review Tribunal for review of the delegate's decision. The application was dismissed, and an application for review of the Tribunal's decision was dismissed by Lindgren J.

APPELLANT'S CLAIMS 2 The appellant had been a staff sergeant in the Sri Lankan army. He retired from the army in 1986. While posted to Jaffna in 1976 he had renewed acquaintance with Sivakumar Kandiah, a Tamil businessman whom he had known at school. They again became close friends. From 1976 to 1986 the appellant used to meet Kandiah at the latter's home in Jaffna, where the appellant was posted for about three months each year. After the appellant retired from the army, Kandiah visited him in Colombo. In a statement furnished to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs the appellant said that in 1976 he "came to know through him [Kandiah] that he was a member of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF)". The TULF is a moderate, non‑militant Tamil political organisation that is regarded with hostility by the violent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eilan (LTTE), and suffers much at its hands. When Kandiah visited the appellant in Colombo, the appellant used to accompany him to help him avoid checking at Army barriers. He did this right up to his departure for Australia in October 1997. 3 After arriving in Australia the appellant telephoned his wife. She told him the police and army had come and "severely questioned" her about the appellant's association with Kandiah. She said the army had alleged that the appellant was engaged in giving information to the LTTE through Kandiah who, allegedly, was an LTTE member pretending to be a TULF member. She said Kandiah had been arrested since the appellant's departure. In later telephone calls to his wife she told him the army had returned and again "severely questioned" her. In April 1999 she informed him that a warrant had recently been issued for his arrest.