DFB16 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
[2021] FCA 113
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Federal Court of Australia
Decision date
2021-02-19
Before
Mr J, Anastassiou J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (8 paragraphs)
Background 3 The Appellant is a citizen of Nepal, of Mongolian ethnicity and Hindu religion. He arrived in Australia on 7 September 2013 as an irregular maritime arrival and went into immigration detention on Christmas Island. On 26 November 2014, an entry interview was conducted. On 10 March 2016, the Appellant applied for a protection visa, and on 18 August 2016, a delegate of the Minister refused to grant the visa. The matter was a fast track reviewable decision and was automatically referred to the Authority for review. On 29 September 2016, the Authority affirmed the decision of the Minister not to grant the Appellant the visa. 4 A summary of the Appellant's claims for protection are set out in the Minister's Protection Visa Decision Record as follows: • In 1995 at around the outbreak of the Nepalese civil war between the King and the rebel Maoist party he was a member and supporter of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party - Nepal (RPP) that was in support of the King. • In 2001 he became a local active member of the National Democratic Youth Organisation which is the youth wing of the RPP. • In 2003 the Maoists demanded monetary donations from him for their cause on threat of violent abduction due to his opposing political ideology. He did not pay them and he was detained by Maoist rebels for two days in a camp in the jungle where he was beaten and forced to declare his support for the Maoist cause. He promised to join their cause if he could see his family one last time but instead when released fled to Pokhara. • In Pokhara he was also threatened by the Maoists after the King was ousted at the end of the civil war in 2006. The Maoists demanded monetary donations from him for their cause on threat of violent abduction due to his opposing political ideology. • He moved to Kathmandu in 2009 in order to again escape their demands for money and threats. The Maoists caught up with him in Kathmandu and again demanded payment to their cause on threat of harm. He decided to flee Nepal. • His family in Nepal have informed [him] that since his departure the Maoists came looking for him in Kathmandu once prior to his arrival in Australia and once soon after, and have not attended his family in Kathmandu since. • The authorities are incapable of protecting him. • If returned to Nepal he fears that the Maoists will harm, threaten and persecute him due to his opposing political ideology. 5 In February 2014, the Appellant provided the Authority with new information about a "data breach" that occurred. On 12 March 2014, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection wrote to the Appellant and informed him that some of his personal information may have been accessed by the unintentional release of a routine report on the Department's website. That information was accessible online for a short time before being removed from the website. The Appellant told the Authority that Maoists could have accessed his personal information and if he went back to Nepal they would ask him why he went to Australia, increasing his risk of harm. The Authority determined it necessary to consider the new information, however ultimately held that the information was "not specifically about the referred [Appellant] and is just about a class of persons of which the referred [Appellant] is a member." 6 The Authority was not satisfied the Appellant had a well-founded fear of persecution at the time or in the reasonably foreseeable future if he returned to Nepal and affirmed the decision of the Minister not to grant the Appellant a protection visa. As a result, the Appellant applied for judicial review in the Circuit Court on 26 October 2016. On 16 January 2019, the Circuit Court dismissed the application.