SBHC v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1209

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SBHC v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1209 SBHC v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & MULTICULTURAL & INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS AND REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL No S 123 of 2005 FINN J ADELAIDE 30 AUGUST 2005

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY SAD 123 OF 2005

BETWEEN: SBHC

APPLICANT

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

FIRST RESPONDENT

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL

SECOND RESPONDENT

JUDGE: FINN J

DATE OF ORDER: 30 AUGUST 2005

WHERE MADE: ADELAIDE

THE COURT ORDERS THAT: 1. The application be dismissed. 2. The applicant pay the first respondent's costs of the application. 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 SAD 123 OF 2005

BETWEEN: SBHC

APPLICANT

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

FIRST RESPONDENT

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL

SECOND RESPONDENT

JUDGE: FINN J

DATE: 30 AUGUST 2005

PLACE: ADELAIDE

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 The applicant, whose nationality the Refugee Review Tribunal ("Tribunal") was unable precisely to determine, applies to this Court under s 39B of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth)to review a decision of that Tribunal confirming the refusal to grant him a protection visa. He arrived in Australia on 2 January 1998 having travelled with an Indonesian passport which he later said was under a false name. He applied for a protection visa on 4 February 1998 also under that same allegedly false name but claimed within his application that he had a different name and was a citizen of China. 2 The substance of his claim for refugee status was that he had got into trouble in China owing to his political activities against the authorities in the People's Republic of China. He claimed to be a professor in the field of mathematics at the People's University in Beijing; that he was actively involved in demonstrations of the pro-democracy movements in Beijing from April 1989; he encouraged his colleagues to go out on the streets to fight for human rights; and he made a speech in Tiananmen Square. As one of the organisers of his university's democracy movement, he was questioned several times by the communist party committee of the university. 3 On 15 June 1989 he was arrested at the university without further explanation. He said he was detained in a police station for more than three months but with the help of one of his colleagues he was released but remained under police investigation and had to report twice a week. He said he was also not allowed to speak to the media. On his release he claims he was demoted from a teaching position to that of a labourer. 4 In October 1989 he met one of his previous university students who worked as an editor at The Beijing Evening Newspaper who invited him to work as a special reporter for that paper. He later wrote "a lot of articles", some being published in the period 1989 to 1996. In early 1996 he was informed by the editor "that I had got into big troubles because of these articles"; he was advised to leave Beijing which he then did; he stayed with a relative in the country; and he then contacted his cousin in Indonesia to where he went before arrangements were made for him to come to Australia.