SZJCR v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2007] FCA 420

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SZJCR v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2007] FCA 420 SZJCR v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP AND REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL NSD 2182 OF 2006

CONTI J

23 MARCH 2007

SYDNEY

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY NSD 2182 OF 2006

BETWEEN: SZJCR

Appellant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP

First Respondent

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL

Second Respondent

JUDGE: CONTI J DATE OF ORDER: 23 MARCH 2007

WHERE MADE: SYDNEY

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1. The name of the first respondent be amended to 'Minister for Immigration and Citizenship'. 2. The Refugee Review Tribunal be joined as the second respondent. 3. The appeal be dismissed. 4. The appellant to pay the first respondent's costs assessed at $2,000. 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 NSD 2182 OF 2006

BETWEEN: SZJCR

Appellant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP

First Respondent

REFUGEE REVIEW TRIBUNAL

Second Respondent

JUDGE: CONTI J

DATE: 23 march 2007

PLACE: SYDNEY

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 This is an appeal from the judgment of Federal Magistrate Emmett delivered on 17 October 2006 whereby her Honour dismissed an application for review of the decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal ('the Tribunal'), made on 13 June 2006 and handed down on 4 July 2006. The Tribunal affirmed the earlier decision of a delegate of the Minister made on 16 February 2006 to refuse the appellant a protection visa.

Tribunal's findings 2 Before the Tribunal, the appellant claimed to fear harm because she was a Falun Gong practitioner. The appellant testified as to participation in a peaceful protest in September 1999 and as to having been arrested and detained for three days. The appellant claimed that from May 2004 she recommenced her involvement in Falun Gong activities in China, and that as a consequence she was arrested on 11 December 2004 and was sent to a labour camp for six months. A Canadian Chinese colleague was said to have offered to marry her so that she could obtain a visa to a western country. The police were then said to have tried to stop her from leaving China at the airport, but allowed her to depart after her husband communicated with some 'foreign reporters'. 3 The appellant appeared at a hearing before the Tribunal on 6 June 2006. The Tribunal appears to have addressed all of the appellant's claims but rejected the same on the basis of the adverse findings it made about her credibility. The Tribunal relied on the appellant's lack of knowledge and familiarity with key aspects and exercises of Falun Gong to find that the appellant was a highly unsatisfactory witness and had made up substantial parts of her claims. Based on the appellant's oral evidence at the hearing, the Tribunal member did not accept that the appellant was ever a genuine practitioner of Falun Gong.