S347 of 2003 v Refugee Review Tribunal

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 The applicant claims to be a citizen of Bhutan. On 30 April 1996, the applicant lodged an application for a protection visa under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ('the Act'). On 8 July 1997, a delegate of the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs refused the application. On 8 August 1997, the applicant applied to the Refugee Review Tribunal ('the Tribunal') for review of the delegate's decision. On 14 September 1998, the Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision ('the Tribunal's Decision'). 2 The applicant commenced a proceeding in the High Court of Australia, by filing a draft order nisi on 20 June 2003, together with an affidavit affirmed on 19 June 2003 seeking relief in respect of the Tribunal's decision. The matter was remitted to this Court pursuant to an order of the High Court following the decision of Muin v Refugee Review Tribunal [2002] HCA 30. 3 On 12 November 2004, the District Registrar of the Federal Court wrote to the applicant inviting him to make written submissions on the question of whether there is an arguable case for the grant of the relief claimed by the draft order nisi in the material before the Court. There has been no response to that letter. For the reasons set out in Applicant S195 v Refugee Review Tribunal [2005] FCA 1571, it is appropriate for this matter to be dealt with on the papers and for Order 51A rule 5(1) of the Federal Court Rules to be dispensed with. 4 The draft order nisi contained no grounds upon which relief was claimed. 5 On an application such as this, for orders requiring the respondents to show cause why final relief should not be granted, the purpose of any affidavit in support is to provide material showing that there is at least an arguable case for the grant of the final relief claimed. However, the material must be more than a mere pleading or assertion of the right to such relief. The material must contain some evidence of facts that would support the grant of the relief claimed. In the context of the relief claimed by the present applicant, there should be material that would show that it is at least arguable that the Tribunal fell into jurisdictional error in making the Tribunal's Decision, such that orders would be made to quash the Decision and to restrain the Minister from acting on the Decision. The material presently before the Court does not disclose an arguable case, in that sense.