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[1998] FCA 874
Federal Court of Australia
1998-06-30
Beaumont J
Original judgment source is linked above.
AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
THE COURT ORDERS THAT: The appeal be dismissed with costs, including reserved costs. Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.
AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT THE COURT: The facts of this case are fully set out in the reasons for judgment of the learned trial judge (Beaumont J). In our view the learned trial judge was correct in holding that the attacks on the Tribunal's reasons amounted to no more than an attempt to re-agitate questions of fact. Such matters are, as a matter of law, solely within the province of the Tribunal. In our opinion, the Tribunal fulfilled quite adequately its task of assessing the evidence before it. The overriding issue was whether, having regard to the applicant's ethnicity as a Tamil, it would be unreasonable to expect him to relocate to Colombo or some other area of Sri Lanka not under LTTE control. The Tribunal discussed the evidence in a rational way. It was not obliged as a matter of law to refer expressly to every piece of evidence which might have supported the appellant's contentions. If the Tribunal did make any errors of fact, which is by no means clear to us, such errors did not amount to an error of law. We agree with the reasons of the learned trial judge in this respect. The appeal will be dismissed with costs, including reserved costs.
I certify that this and the preceding page are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment herein of the Honourable Justices Heerey, Whitlam and Kiefel
Solicitor for the Applicant: McDonells Solicitors
Solicitor for the Respondent: Australian Government Solicitor