Federal Court. Is a random act of criminal violence "persecution" for the purposes of s 5J(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)? If not, but such random acts are committed for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group and those acts are tolerated by State authorities resulting in a systematic failure to apply the law to the perpetrators, can there be persecution for the purposes of s 5J(1)?
Some of the questions to the Federal Court (FCA) were as follows:
Question 1: Is a random act of criminal violence "persecution" for the purposes of s 5J(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)?
Question 2: If the answer to Question 1 is "no", but such random acts are committed for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group and those acts are tolerated by State authorities resulting in a systematic failure to apply the law to the perpetrators, can there be persecution for the purposes of s 5J(1)?
The FCA answered those questions as follows: