By Harold Jones Registered Migrant Agent AUSTRALIA: The Australian Government formed the Refugee Review Tribunal on June 1, 1993, This Tribunal is an independent Statutory organization, that is, it is completely separate from the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs.
As the then Minister, Gerry Hand Said in his press release (MPS 6/ 93): “It would take a no adversarial approach in handling and assessing claims, and would have the power to make decisions.”
The words “non adversarial Mean that the Tribunal Member ‘asks the questions and forms an opinion of the strength of a case, and then makes a decision. It is not like a court where there are barristers. The purpose is to have inexpensive hearings which result in “quick, fair, just, economical and informal” decisions. This is a requirement upon the Tribunal and is provided for in Section 166C of the Migration Act 1958.
People interested in the Refugee process have been anxiously waiting to see how the R.R.T. acts in the many decisions made by the Department that people are not Refugees, and as many of you ‘know, there are many hundreds of Refugee/Review Applications in the system for nationals of India.
‘The Final Decisions of the Refugee Review Tribunal are available for each application, but the names or any other details which may identify a person are removed from the “published” decision.
So far l have received eight decisions, where the Refugee Review Tribunal has decided the persons should have refugee status, and thus are granted permanent residence in Australia, A brief description is as follows: Case 1 Melbourne * Hindu man from the Punjab Case 2 Melbourne + Christian man from Madhya Pradesh Case 3 Sydney + Woman Sikh from Haryana Case 4 Sydney + Sikh man from the Punjab Case 5Sydney + Hindu man from the Punjab Case 6Sydney » Christian family from?
Case 7 Melbourne * Sikh man from the Punjab Fee 8 Sydney Christian woman from New Delhi But as against these eight that Were successful, at least 64 other applicants were rejected. The interesting issue is how many Christians were successful.
However it’s hopeful as up until. This time very few Sikhs had been Successful, certainly in comparison with the USA Canada.
However what has been learned; is that success comes from ensuring your case is well presented at the hearing. And Many Sikhs is, causes all expenses must be paid by them are reluctant to spend money. With advise, However with Some Sikhs being Successful we hope this changes.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 18, 1994
