Ground 2
50 As noted above, in support of Ground 2, the appellant contended that the Tribunal's decision disclosed jurisdictional error on a number of bases, including a failure to perform the task mandated by s 65 of the Migration Act. Section 65 provides that the Minister is to grant a protection visa if he or she is "satisfied" that the relevant criteria have been met and refuse to grant the visa if he or she is "not so satisfied". However, the Minister (or the Tribunal: see Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs v SGLB [2004] HCA 32; 207 ALR 12 at [37]) is only empowered to make a determination regarding the relevant state of satisfaction where that determination is based on findings or inferences of fact that are grounded upon probative material and logical grounds: see SGLB 207 ALR 12 at [37]-[38] (Gummow and Hayne JJ); Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v SZMDS [2010] HCA 16; 240 CLR 611 at [37]-[42], [51]-[52] (Gummow ACJ and Kiefel J, dissenting as to the application of law to facts), [102]-[105], [121]-[131] (Crennan and Bell JJ), citing, amongst other authorities, Avon Downs Pty Ltd v Federal Commissioner of Taxation [1949] HCA 26; 78 CLR 353 at 360 (Dixon J).
51 As stated by Gummow and Hayne JJ in SGLB 207 ALR at [37]-[38]:
The satisfaction of the Minister is a condition precedent to the discharge of the obligation to grant or refuse to grant the visa, and is a "jurisdictional fact" or criterion upon which the exercise of that authority is conditioned. ...
The satisfaction of the criterion that the applicant is a non-citizen to whom Australia has the relevant protection obligations may include consideration of factual matters but the critical question is whether the determination was irrational, illogical and not based on findings or inferences of fact supported by logical grounds. If the decision did display these defects, it will be no answer that the determination was reached in good faith.
(Footnotes omitted.)
52 For present purposes, it may be assumed, as Rares J noted in SZOOR v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2012] FCAFC 58; 202 FCR 1 at [15], that:
The approach to irrationality or illogicality dictated by the authorities in the High Court appears to be that even if the decision-maker's articulation of how and why he or she went from the facts to the decision is not rational or logical, if someone else could have done so on the evidence, the decision is not one that will be set aside. It is only if no decision-maker could have followed that path, and despite the reasons given by the actual decision-maker, that the decision will be found to have been made by reason of a jurisdictional error.
53 Where the Tribunal's determination regarding the state of satisfaction turns on its assessment of the reasonableness of relocation within a protection visa applicant's country of nationality, and that assessment is not based on findings or inferences of fact that are grounded upon probative material and logical grounds, there will be no jurisdictional foundation for the Tribunal's decision. As Gummow ACJ and Kiefel J observed in SZMDS 240 CLR 611 at [40], the conclusion that a Tribunal's decision was irrational in the requisite sense should not be reached lightly: see also SZMDS 240 CLR 611 at [130] (Crennan and Bell JJ). At the same time, however, apprehension of merits review must not operate to shield decisions which have been reached without the necessary jurisdictional foundation: see SZMDS 240 CLR 611 at [42] (Gummow ACJ and Kiefel J).
54 As noted above (see [42]), the appellant claimed before the Tribunal, that relocation was unreasonable on account of his youth, and his lack of education and employment experiences or skills that would enable him to support himself in a new place where he had no family or tribal links. In the appellant's post-hearing submissions of 31 January 2014, his migration agent also wrote:
The Applicant instructs that the perception he is able to start afresh in either of Lahore and Islamabad/Rawalpindi due to his "resourceful" profile is misguided for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Applicant instructs that he is only educated at a very basic level. Secondly he instructs that he is destitute and would have no support network by way of family or friends to subsist. Thirdly, he instructs that the DFAT report "Shias in Pakistan" does not address the difficulties that Turi Shias (as opposed to Shias from other areas) may encounter when relocating to these areas. He instructs that Turi Shias are discriminated against by all other groups in Pakistan including non-Turi Shias. He instructs this is because no one wishes to associate with Turi Shias, out of fear that they themselves, will attract adverse attention from religious extremist groups.
The DFAT report states in relation to internal relocation that:
DFAT has observed, in practical terms, internal relocation of Shias occurs with relative frequency due to family connections and employment opportunities.
In the context of the Applicant's claims, it would appear he doesn't fit the reports [sic] profile of someone who could relocate within Pakistan, as he has no family connections, no support network and no prospective opportunity of gaining employment outside of Parachinar.
55 The Tribunal rejected the appellant's claims in this regard, saying:
The Tribunal finds that a person such as the applicant, who is fluent in Pashtu and can read and speak the national language Urdu, could live and work in an urban city such as Islamabad or Rawalpindi. Despite the applicant's assertions that he is only educated to a very basic level, the Tribunal finds the applicant completed Year twelve in high school and has experience working in his step-father's business, which will assist him in finding employment. …
The Tribunal accepts that the applicant does not have any familial or friendship ties in Islamabad/Rawalpindi. However, the Tribunal has had regard to the applicant's capability and flexibility demonstrated by him travelling to Indonesia, a foreign country where he knew no-one, and was living for a period of time before coming to Australia, where he similarly has no familial or friendship connections. The applicant's resourcefulness and youth, in addition to the presence of a Turi population in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, suggests that the applicant would be able to manage to find shelter and employment in these cities of Pakistan without the support of family, friends and contacts to rely on and that he is capable of supporting himself outside of Parachinar. The Tribunal does not accept the applicant's adviser's contention that the applicant has no prospective opportunity of gaining employment outside of Parachinar.
56 Reference to the transcript of the Tribunal hearing indicated that, although there was evidence that the appellant could read and speak Urdu, writing in Urdu was "a bit hard" for him. If there were any related error on the Tribunal's part, which is not immediately apparent, it is immaterial. The appellant's counsel did not contend that any associated error of fact affected the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. Rather, the focus of the appellant's case was on the Tribunal's findings about his education, the utility of his experience in his stepfather's business and that he had the capacity and resourcefulness to find employment and accommodation in Islamabad or Rawalpindi even though he did not have the support of family or friends.
57 The Tribunal found that the appellant had completed year 12 at high school before he left Kurram Agency "[d]espite [his] assertions that he is only educated to a very basic level". In relation to this finding, it must be borne in mind, however, that the Tribunal had also accepted that the circumstances in the Kurram Agency between 2007 and 2011 had affected the appellant's education and, in this context, had referred to country information about the destruction of education infrastructure during this period in that region. This latter circumstance might be thought to raise the real possibility that the deficiencies in the appellant's education might be relevant to finding employment in Islamabad or Rawalpindi, as the appellant claimed, and in turn the reasonableness of his relocation there. In the circumstances as found by the Tribunal, the finding that the appellant had completed year 12 did not directly address this aspect of the appellant's claim. The Tribunal went on to find that "[g]iven the applicant's own assertions that he has acquired only a basic level of education, the Tribunal does not accept that the applicant has the characteristics of those he identified as being at risk of harm" (referring to "well-educated people ... and students"). It might be thought that it was not logically open to the Tribunal to rely on the appellant's assertion that his education was only to a basic level at this point, given that the Tribunal had apparently rejected or discounted this assertion some few lines earlier in its reasons.
58 The Tribunal also found that the appellant "has experience working in his step-father's business, which will assist him in finding employment". The Tribunal's description of that experience did not, however, disclose that this finding was grounded in the evidence before it. The Tribunal found that "on the basis of the applicant's evidence ... he operated his step-father's shop on his own for a very limited period of time, no more than two months" after his stepfather's death and stopped because he feared for his safety (emphasis added). Without more, it is difficult to discern how this supported the Tribunal's finding that the appellant's very short experience in his stepfather's business would, practically speaking, assist him in finding employment. In this context, it has also to be borne in mind that the appellant had described his occupation before leaving Pakistan as that of "farmer". In addition to working very briefly in his stepfather's business, the appellant told the Tribunal at the hearing that he had "done some farming", but "purely for my family's use". This was also reflected in his application for a protection visa where the appellant had stated, "I would work as a farmer on my family's farm but everything we harvested from this farm was only enough for my family's own needs". The Tribunal's reasons did not address this latter matter at all.
59 The Tribunal accepted that the appellant did not have "any familial or friendship ties" in Islamabad or Rawalpindi. The significance of the absence of a support network was apparent from the DFAT report, which was quoted in the post-hearing submissions of the appellant's migration agent (see [54] above) and apparently referred to in the Tribunal's reasons. According to those submissions, the report included a statement that:
DFAT has observed, in practical terms, internal relocation of Shias occurs with relative frequency due to family connections and employment opportunities.
60 With this in mind, the appellant's migration agent had submitted that the appellant did not fit the profile of a person who "could relocate within Pakistan, as he has no family connections, no support network and no prospective opportunity of gaining employment outside of Parachinar". The Tribunal did not directly address this undeniably important part of the appellant's claim, by, for example, stating that there was other information to indicate that family connections were insignificant for employment opportunities in Islamabad or Rawalpindi. Instead, the Tribunal discounted the importance of family and friendship ties in the appellant's case on the basis of his "capability and flexibility demonstrated by him travelling to Indonesia, a foreign country where he knew no-one, and was living for a period of time before coming to Australia, where he similarly had no familial or friendship connections". The Tribunal continued:
The applicant's resourcefulness and youth, in addition to the presence of a Turi population in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, suggests that the applicant would be able to manage to find shelter and employment in these cities of Pakistan without the support of family, friends and contacts to rely on and that he is capable of supporting himself outside of Parachinar. The Tribunal does not accept the applicant's adviser's contention that the applicant has no prospective opportunity of gaining employment outside of Parachinar.
61 As counsel for the appellant noted, however, the information before the Tribunal (in the records of initial interview and the Irregular Maritime Arrival Entry Interview) was that the appellant had travelled to Indonesia with three family members (two cousins and another relative said to be a cousin's husband) and a friend. Most, if not all, the travellers were male. The record of the Irregular Maritime Arrival Entry Interview indicated that a relative was already in Indonesia at the time of the appellant's arrival there and that the appellant stayed with this person and his other relatives in a flat in Indonesia. The record indicated the food was organised and travel arrangements made by a significantly older and apparently middle-aged cousin. The appellant also gave evidence about his trip by boat to Indonesia at the Tribunal hearing and his trip by boat to Christmas Island, including that "when I was coming to Australia, my boat sank". He later added, "[w]hen the boat sank in Australian waters obviously I had my cousins with me". He had, plainly enough, planned to have a number of members of his family with him on his arrival in Australia, although it seems that they and a friend had, sadly, perished at sea.
62 The Tribunal's finding that the appellant was capable, flexible and resourceful was groundless, when account is taken of the information before the Tribunal about the circumstances surrounding the appellant's departure from Pakistan and arrival in Australia. This information may have supported a finding that the appellant was desperate to flee Pakistan, although only in the company of relatives; and that he may have been naïve or ill-informed about the risks involved in such a trip. The Tribunal did not otherwise address the appellant's claim that relocation to Islamabad or Rawalpindi was not reasonable, in the sense of practicable, in the absence of a support network of family or friends.
63 It may be accepted that the reasons of the Tribunal are not to be scrutinised with an over-zealous eye for error and that it is not necessary for the Tribunal to refer in its written reasons to every item of evidence and every contention made by a visa applicant: Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Wu Shan Liang [1996] HCA 6; 185 CLR 259 at 272; and Applicant WAEE v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2003] FCAFC 184; 236 FCR 593 at [46]-[47]. Nonetheless, the Tribunal's reasons must enable the identification of the reasons that the Tribunal had for reaching its conclusion, and the findings that the Tribunal made in reaching the conclusion it did: see Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Yusuf [2001] HCA 30; 206 CLR 323. Considering the various matters raised by the appellant both individually and in combination, I conclude that the Tribunal failed to perform the task mandated by s 65 of the Migration Act, in that it did not make a determination regarding the relevant state of satisfaction based on findings or inferences of fact that were grounded upon probative material and logical grounds.
64 Another way of identifying jurisdictional error in the Tribunal's decision can be seen in the Tribunal's failure to address all of the appellant's claims, including significant integers arising clearly on the material before the Tribunal: see NABE 144 FCR 1 at [58], [60]-[61], [68]. Thus, the Tribunal's statement that the appellant had shown "capability and flexibility" did not engage with the actual circumstances of the appellant and did not address the appellant's claim that, without a support network of family and friends, relocation to Islamabad or Rawalpindi would not be reasonable since this network was important for employment opportunities. Since the finding about his resourcefulness, capability and flexibility was critical to the Tribunal's conclusion that it would be reasonable for him to relocate to either of these cities, it follows that the Tribunal did not fulfil its statutory task and exceeded its jurisdiction.