Federal Court: May ss 473DD(a) and (b)(ii) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) overlap? Further, IAA refused to consider new info, saying: "The mere fact that some of the applicant’s siblings have been granted protection on the basis the applicant claims is the same as his own claims, has no probative value when assessing the applicant’s claims for protection". Did IAA, in effect, say that "in no circumstances could evidence" relating to the siblings "have probative value when assessing the applicant’s claims for protection", thus amounting to jurisdictional error?
The questions to the Federal Court (FCA) were as follows:
Question 1: May "the question of whether new information is credible personal information which may properly have affected the consideration of the appellant’s claims [under s 473DD(1)(b)(ii) be] relevant to the Authority’s consideration of whether there were “exceptional circumstances” for the purposes of s 473DD(a)"?
Question 2: Did the IAA, in effect, say that "in no circumstances could evidence" relating to the siblings "have probative value when assessing the applicant’s claims for protection", thus amounting to jurisdictional error?
The FCA answered those questions as follows: