SZIVU v Minister for Immigration & Citizenship

ON APPEAL FROM THE FEDERAL MAGISTRATES COURT OF AUSTRALIA

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 This is an application for leave to appeal from a judgment of the Federal Magistrates Court given on 7 December 2006. That court dismissed what it treated as an application for an extension of time by the applicant to make an application for judicial review of a decision made by the Refugee Review Tribunal on 30 September 1998 to affirm a decision of the delegate of the respondent Minister to refuse the applicant a protection visa under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ('the Act'). 2 According to facts as found by the Federal Magistrate, the applicant was advised in 1998 of the decision of the Tribunal to affirm the rejection of the delegate. The Magistrate accepted a submission made on behalf of the respondent Minister that, by the combined operation of s 477 of the Act and Item 42 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Migration Litigation Reform Act 2005 (Cth), the application for judicial review would have been very substantially out of time. Accordingly, pursuant to s 477 of the Act, the Magistrate was not permitted to allow the applicant to make the application which he sought to make. 3 The applicant represented himself before me this morning and has said nothing that would cast any doubt upon the correctness of the Federal Magistrate's judgment. This seems to be a clear case in which the purported application for judicial review in the Federal Magistrates Court was incompetent. 4 In the circumstances I propose to reject the application for leave to appeal. I certify that the preceding four (4) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment herein of the Honourable Justice Jessup.

Counsel for the Applicant: The applicant appeared in person