Refugee wins High Court challenge against Immigration Minister

A PAKISTANI refugee will be allowed to stay in Australia after the High Court ruled he could not be denied a visa just because he arrived by boat.

Job ID PD345924. The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison, during his address to the National Press Club in Canberra. Pic by Gary Ramage

A PAKISTANI refugee is “thrilled” that he will be allowed to stay in Australia after the High Court ruled he could not be denied a permanent protection visa just because he arrived by boat.

Former immigration minister Scott Morrison refused to grant the man a visa last year because he said it was not in the “national interest”, but the High Court on Wednesday found that this was unlawful.

Farid Varess, the lawyer acting on behalf of the man, welcomed the court’s decision and said it would result in the first permanent protection visa granted to an unauthorised maritime arrival since the Abbott Government’s election in 2013.

“Our client is naturally thrilled by this result,” Mr Varess said

The Pakistani man arrived at Christmas Island on an asylum-seeker boat in May 2012 and he was allowed to apply for a permanent protection visa. In July 2014, Mr Morrison refused his application.

“The only reason for the refusal was that the minister was not satisfied that the grant of a protection visa to the plaintiff ‘is in the national interest’ because he was an unauthorised maritime arrival,” the High Court judgment noted.

Today the court ruled that the minister could not refuse a visa application just because the applicant was an unauthorised maritime arrival.

It has now ordered the minister to grant the man a permanent protection visa within seven days.

A spokesman for the current Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the minister acknowledged the court’s decision and a visa would be issued to the man within the time frame.

“The Department of Immigration and Border Protection is looking into the implications of the decision, but they appear to be limited,” the spokesman said.

“This decision doesn’t affect the government’s policy that illegal maritime arrivals will not be granted permanent protection visas.”

Mr Varess agreed that the decision would have limited impact on other refugees, because of the reintroduction of temporary protection visas last year.

A boat carrying asylum seekers near Christmas Island. Picture: AP Photo/Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency

The man’s application has been in limbo since 2013 after the government initially ruled it could not be determined because of a cap on the number of protection visas that could be granted in a financial year. But the High Court found this was invalid and ordered the Immigration Minister to consider the man’s application.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young today slammed the “arrogance” of the Abbott Government and former immigration minister in trying to block the man’s application.

“The Immigration Minister is not above the law, despite his consistent efforts to undermine the Parliament and the High Court.

“This man is a refugee, he came to Australia asking for help and it’s only after being dragged through the courts that the government will recognise its duty and offer him protection.

“The Minister should have recognised Australia’s international obligations and granted this man a protection visa when he was found to be a refugee.”