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Velusamy v Minister for Immigration & Anor [2009] FMCA 879 (18 September 2009)
Last Updated: 22 September 2009
FEDERAL MAGISTRATES COURT OF AUSTRALIA
VELUSAMY v MINISTER FOR
IMMIGRATION & ANOR
|
|
MIGRATION – Review of Migration Review
Tribunal decision – Skilled – Independent Overseas Student
(Residence) visa
– refusal – points system – eligibility for
bonus points – criterion based on length of employment in a skilled
occupation – matters which must be considered by Tribunal –
unarticulated claim.
|
Migration Act 1958, ss.94, 95, 95A, 350,
359A, 474Migration Regulations 1994, reg.2.26A, , cl.136.213 of
sch.2, cl.880.222 of sch.2, item 6A81 of sch.6A
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|
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PRABU CHANDRAPURAM VELUSAMY
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First Respondent:
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MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & CITIZENSHIP
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Second Respondent:
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MIGRATION REVIEW TRIBUNAL
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Hearing date:
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28 August 2009
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Date of Last Submission:
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28 August 2009
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Delivered on:
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18 September 2009
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REPRESENTATION
Counsel for the
Applicant:
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Mr P. Reynolds
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Solicitors for the Applicant:
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Fragomen
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Counsel for the First Respondent:
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Mr J. Smith
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Solicitors for the Respondents:
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Sparke Helmore
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ORDERS
(1) The application be
dismissed.
FEDERAL MAGISTRATESCOURT OF AUSTRALIA
ATSYDNEY
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SYG 1341 of 2009
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PRABU CHANDRAPURAM VELUSAMY
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Applicant
And
MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION &
CITIZENSHIP
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First Respondent
MIGRATION REVIEW TRIBUNAL
|
Second Respondent
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
Introduction
- On
1 November 2006 the applicant applied for a Skilled – Independent Overseas
Student (Residence) (Class DD) visa. On 29 January
2008 a delegate of the
Minister refused the application on the basis that the applicant had failed to
achieve a “qualifying
score” pursuant to cl.880.222 of sch.2 to the
Migration Regulations 1994 (“Regulations”). The applicant
subsequently applied to the Migration Review Tribunal (“Tribunal”)
for a
review of that departmental decision. He was unsuccessful before the
Tribunal and has applied to this Court for judicial review
of the
Tribunal’s decision.
- In
these judicial review proceedings the Court’s task is to determine whether
the Tribunal’s decision is affected by jurisdictional
error as that is the
only basis upon which it can be set aside: s.474 Migration Act
1958 (“Act”); Plaintiff S157/2002 v Commonwealth
(2003) 211 CLR 476.
- For
the reasons which follow, the application will be
dismissed.
Relevant law
- At
the time the visa application was lodged, the Skilled – Independent
Overseas Student (Residence) (Class DD) visa contained
only one subclass:
subclass 880.
- The
criteria for the grant of a subclass 880 visa are set out in pt.880 of sch.2 to
the Regulations. Relevantly in this case, a primary
criterion to be satisfied
at the time of decision is cl.880.222 which requires that an applicant have a
“qualifying score”
when assessed under subdiv.B of div.3 of pt.2 of
the Act (i.e. ss.92-96). That subdivision provides for the application of a
points
system under which applicants for relevant visas are given a score based
on particular attributes set out in the Regulations, in
this case sch.6A (which
provides details of the qualifications and the range of points available) and
reg.2.26A (which stipulates
which parts of sch.6A are relevant to subclass 880
visas).
- Relevantly
in this case, sch.6A’s item 6A81(b) allows for five “bonus
points” to be awarded where
- The
applicant:
- (a)
...
- (b) has
been employed in Australia in a skilled occupation for a period of, or for
periods totalling, at least 6 months in the 48
months immediately before the day
on which the application was made while holding a visa authorising him or her to
work; ...
In this context
“employed” means “engaged in an occupation for remuneration
for at least 20 hours weekly”:
reg.2.26A(7).
- An
applicant whose assessed score is more than or equal to the applicable pass mark
is taken to have received the qualifying score:
s.94(1). If an assessed score
is less than the pass mark, but greater than or equal to the “pool
mark”, the applicant
remains in a pool for up to two years, waiting for a
lower pass mark to be prescribed: ss.95, 95A.
- Section
350 of the Act requires the Tribunal to consider the Regulations and the pool
and pass marks in force at the time of the delegate’s
assessment and at
the time of the Tribunal assessment and to apply whichever are more favourable
to the applicant.
- At
all times relevant to these proceedings the pass and pool marks were both set at
120 points: Gazette Notice 15, 14 April 2004.
Background facts
Primary application
- In
his application form of 1 November 2006 the applicant gave his nominated
occupation as “computing professional” and
claimed that he had been
employed since August 2004 as an “IT support technician” for
Mosskito Cold Chain Logistics Pty
Ltd (“Mosskito”). In support of
his application he provided, amongst other things, a letter dated 27 October
2006 from
Mr D. Zanon, the general manager of Mosskito, who confirmed that the
applicant had been working twenty hours per week since August
2004 in an IT
capacity.
- By
letter dated 16 October 2007 the Minster’s department advised the
applicant that on 8 October 2007 two of its officers had
conducted an on-site
visit to his place of employment for the purposes of verifying his claims and
reported that:
- After
discussions with a representative of the company, it was confirmed that the
applicant [sic] main role varied and consisted mainly of storeman duties
and a forklift driver, loading the refrigerated trucks. It was also confirmed
that the applicant sometimes performed IT work such as data entry and was able
to fix some server and system problems.
- The
applicant’s agent responded by letter dated 20 November 2007 stating that
there had been a misunderstanding regarding the
applicant’s position and
enclosing for clarification purposes an additional letter dated 16 November 2007
from Mr Zanon. Amongst
other things, Mr Zanon stated that:
- ... there
are many occasions when we become extremely busy and all staff – including
administrative staff – are requested
to help out for a short period in the
warehouse. ... [this] is only an occasional help provided voluntarily
... Mr. Prabu’s duties have been in the area of IT support, not in the
warehouse.
His help is only in addition to his regular duties as IT support
technician.
- The
Minister’s delegate awarded the applicant the following points for each
category:
|
Skill
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60
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Age
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30
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English language ability
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20
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Specific work experience
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0
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Occupation in demand/job offer
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0
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Australian qualification
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5
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Bonus points
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0
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Regional Australia
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0
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TOTAL
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115
|
- Of
particular relevance to these proceedings, the delegate found that the applicant
was not entitled to any bonus points under item
6A81(b) as she was satisfied
that his work experience whilst employed by Mosskito was that of a forklift
driver, an occupation which
was not listed on the Skilled Occupation List.
- As
the requisite pass mark at the time of the delegate’s decision was 120
points, the applicant failed to achieve the qualifying
score and accordingly the
delegate refused to grant him the visa.
Application to the Tribunal
- The
applicant applied to the Tribunal for review of that decision and appeared at a
hearing on 18 November 2008 to give evidence and
present arguments. Oral
evidence was also given by Mr Zanon.
- The
Tribunal reassessed the applicant’s points score and found that he was
entitled to a total of 115 points for the following
reasons:
- Skills
qualifications
The applicant’s nominated skilled
occupation of ICT Recent Graduate entitled him to 60 points.
- Age
qualifications
The applicant’s age entitled him to 30
points.
- Language
skill qualification
Having achieved an IELTS test score of at
least 6 for each component of listening, reading, writing and speaking, the
applicant was
entitled to 20 points for this category.
- Employment
experience qualifications
The applicant made no claims about
being employed in his nominated skilled occupation or a closely related skilled
occupation for
a period of, or periods totalling, at least thirty-six months in
the forty-eight months immediately before the day on which his visa
application
was made and he was therefore entitled to no points in this category.
- Spouse
skill qualification
The applicant did not have a spouse and
therefore no points could be awarded for this category.
- Australian
educational qualification
The applicant had successfully
completed a Master of Information Systems at Central Queensland University which
entitled him to 5
points for this category.
- Skills
targeting qualifications
The applicant’s nominated
skilled occupation of ICT Recent Graduate was not a specified occupation in
demand and therefore no
points could be awarded in this category.
- Bonus
points qualification
The Tribunal accepted that the applicant
was employed by Mosskito for at least six months for twenty hours per week in
the relevant
period. However, given that some this work was undertaken in the
warehouse or as a storeman, the Tribunal found that it necessarily
followed that
the applicant did not work for twenty hours per week as an IT support
technician. Accordingly, he was not entitled
to bonus points pursuant to item
6A81(b).
- Additional
points qualification for regional Australia and low-population metropolitan
areas
The applicant did not study full-time for two years at a
specified campus and did not reside for at least two years in a specified
area
such that he would be entitled to points in this category.
- The
applicant having attained a score of 115 points, the Tribunal found that he
failed to achieve the qualifying score of 120 points
as required by cl.880.222
of sch.2 to the Regulations. As, at the time of the delegate’s decision,
the pool and pass marks
relevant to the applicant’s application were both
120 and this situation had not changed by the time the Tribunal made its
decision, the Tribunal affirmed the delegate’s decision not to grant the
applicant a subclass 880 visa.
Proceedings in this Court
- The
grounds of the amended application were pleaded as follows:
- (1) A
jurisdictional error occurred when the Tribunal failed to determine the
Applicant’s application for a Independent Overseas
Student (Residence)
(Class DD) visa in accordance with the Migration Regulations 1994, because the
Tribunal misconstrued and/or misapplied item 6A81(b) of Schedule 6A and
regulation 2.26A(7).
- (2) The
Tribunal committed jurisdictional error by failing to deal with the claims
expressly put to it or otherwise squarely raised
on the material before it. In
the alternative, the Tribunal failed to take into account a relevant
consideration.
Misapplication of test
- The
particulars of the allegation that the Tribunal failed properly to apply item
6A81(b) of sch.6A and reg.2.26A(7) can be summarised
as follows:
- the
Tribunal had to determine if the applicant had been employed in Australia in a
skilled occupation for periods totalling six months
in the forty-eight months
immediately before he applied for the visa;
- “employed”
means “engaged in an occupation for remuneration for at least 20 hours
weekly”: reg.2.26A(7);
- the
period of employment relevant to the applicant’s application was seven
months in overall length;
- the
Tribunal found that the applicant had not worked in the relevant occupation for
twenty hours every week because, on occasion,
he performed other duties on the
warehouse floor;
- the
Tribunal failed to determine when and for what periods of time the applicant
had, in that seven month period, performed those
other duties; and
- absent
such a finding, the Tribunal could not be satisfied that the applicant failed to
satisfy the relevant criterion.
- The
applicant submitted that the Tribunal made the same mistake as was made by a
ministerial delegate and considered in Martinez v Minister for Immigration
& Citizenship [2009] FCA 781. There, Goldberg J considered cl.136.213
of sch.2 to the Regulations which required the applicant to demonstrate that he
had been
“employed in a skilled occupation” for a particular period.
The delegate rejected the applicant’s claim to have
been employed in a
skilled occupation and performing the duties of the relevant occupation to the
requisite level without having
specifically determined the nature of the work
that the applicant had undertaken, the duties involved and the period or periods
during
which the applicant had performed such work or duties. His Honour
said:
- ... In my
opinion, the delegate was obliged to determine the nature of the work which the
appellant had undertaken and the duties
he had undertaken in the course of his
work and also the period or periods during which the appellant claimed to have
undertaken
that work and performed such duties. These matters were intertwined
and both had to be addressed specifically in order for the delegate
to determine
whether the appellant satisfied subcl 136.213(1).
- As a matter
of legal analysis, in order for the delegate to determine whether she was
satisfied as to the nature of the employment
of the appellant in the skilled
occupation and that he had performed the duties of a cook it was necessary for
the delegate to examine,
consider and make a finding in respect of the period or
periods during which the appellant had been employed in that occupation and
performing those duties. If the delegate had turned her mind to identifying,
and making a finding in respect of those periods, she
may well have reached a
different conclusion from the conclusion she reached in respect of her level of
non-satisfaction as to the
nature of the occupation undertaken by the appellant
and the duties he performed as a cook. (at [35] –
[36])
- Martinez’s
case demonstrates that, in this case, item 6A81(b) of sch.6A to the
Regulations required the Tribunal, as an exercise of jurisdiction,
to make a
determination on the following matters:
- which
weeks in the forty-eight month period immediately before the day on which he
made the visa application the applicant worked
in his skilled occupation;
- whether
those periods totalled at least six months; and
- the
nature of the work or the duties undertaken by the applicant during that period.
The applicant submitted that the Tribunal did not address
itself to those particular questions.
- In
para.48 of its decision the Tribunal said:
- On the
evidence available to it, the Tribunal accepts that the visa applicant was
employed for at least 6 months [between April and
October 2006] for 20 hours per
week in the relevant period.
The Tribunal did not
specify in which of the weeks from April to October 2006 the applicant worked
for twenty hours. The evidence
to which the Tribunal referred supported a
conclusion that, in fact, the applicant had worked for twenty hours per week
from 1 April
2006 to 13 October 2006, a period of twenty-eight weeks. However,
at this point of its consideration it was not necessary for the
Tribunal to do
more than find that the applicant had worked for twenty hours per week for at
least six months, i.e. twenty-six weeks.
- The
significance of there apparently being two weeks of the applicant’s work
history which the Tribunal implicitly discarded
for the purpose of deciding
whether he had worked for twenty hours per week for at least six months emerges
in its finding in para.55.
There it said:
- If the visa
applicant worked not more than 20 hours per week in the relevant period and some
of his work was undertaken in the warehouse
or as a storeman, it necessarily
follows that he did not work for 20 hours per week in the skilled occupation as
an IT Support Technician.
The applicant submitted that
such a conclusion did not necessarily follow at all. This, he said, was because
in the twenty-eight
week period to which the Tribunal made reference in para.48,
the applicant could have satisfied the item 6A81(b) test by working
as an IT
support technician for twenty hours per week over twenty-six weeks and by
working in the warehouse for the remainder of
the April to October 2006 period.
The applicant submitted that that the Tribunal’s finding articulated in
para.55 of its decision
reflected its erroneous failure to follow the steps
which Martinez’s case states should be observed when considering
provisions such as item 6A81(b).
- If
the Tribunal had failed to turn its mind to the full details of the
applicant’s work history as the applicant’s arguments
imply, then it
would have failed to approach the matter in the way required by
Martinez’s case. However, although it found that the
applicant worked “for at least 6 months” for twenty hours per week,
the Tribunal should
not be understood to have been restricting its consideration
of the work performed by the applicant to an unspecified six month period
and to
have failed to consider the remainder of the April to October 2006 period. The
Tribunal should be understood to have had
regard to all of the applicant’s
work history in that period.
- The
Tribunal’s consideration of the applicant’s work history was
undertaken in three steps. The first step was its reference
to the evidence of
the applicant’s work history from April 2006 to October 2006 and its
finding that he had worked for twenty
hours per day for “at least”
six months (para 48). Although the Tribunal was only required to determine
whether the applicant’s
qualifying work history amounted to at least six
months in total, it can be inferred from the way it expressed itself in para.48
of its decision, quoted above at [23], that the Tribunal accepted that the
applicant worked twenty hours per week in each of the
weeks in the April to
October 2006 period in respect of which he had provided documentary evidence in
the form of payslips. The Tribunal
referred to the payslips at para.47 of its
decision.
- The
second step was set out in para.55 of the decision quoted above at [24]. There,
the Tribunal stated its conclusion that because
the applicant worked no more
than twenty hours per week for Mosskito and any work in Mosskito’s
warehouse was performed at
some point during those twenty hours, it naturally
followed that in a week when such work was performed, the applicant did not work
for twenty hours as an IT support technician. The applicant submits that this
reflected an assumption that any work at the warehouse
necessarily defeated the
applicant’s claim. However, at this point of its decision the Tribunal
was not considering whether
the applicant failed to meet the item 6A81(b)
test of being “employed” and whether such voluntary work would
affect the
applicant’s satisfaction of the work-history criterion of the
visa he sought. All it was doing was stating the obvious fact
that, given that
the applicant worked for no more than twenty hours in any week, if in a given
week he did some work in the warehouse,
in that week he could not have worked
for twenty hours as an IT support technician.
- At
para.56 of its decision the Tribunal considered the evidence of the
applicant’s work history:
- The
evidence of the visa applicant’s occupation is finely balanced. The
Departmental officers [sic] report did not deny that the visa applicant
‘sometimes performed IT work such as data entry and was able to fix some
server
and system problems’. The General Manager and the visa applicant
conceded that the latter worked in the warehouse for at least
some of the time
in the relevant period.
It was necessary for the
Tribunal to consider such evidence to determine the extent to which the
applicant had worked as an IT support
technician and the extent to which he had
performed other work. Following a consideration of that evidence, the Tribunal
took the
third and final step and concluded that, on balance, the applicant had
worked for less than 20 hours per week as an IT support technician in the
relevant period. (para.57)
That is to say, the Tribunal
concluded that at no point during the relevant period, in respect of which only
twenty eight weeks’
employment records had been evidenced, had the
applicant worked for twenty hours per week as an IT support technician.
- The
Tribunal satisfied the Martinez test by considering both the nature of
the work performed by the applicant and the entirety of the period for which
there was evidence
of that work. It satisfied the Martinez test
notwithstanding that it did not analyse each of the weeks of the
applicant’s employment to determine whether he was relevantly
“employed”. In circumstances where the Tribunal concluded that at
no point during the forty-eight month period prior
to the lodgment of the visa
application was the applicant “employed” in the prescribed sense, it
was not obliged to make
separate findings in relation to each week in the
twenty-eight week period between April and October 2006 for which there was
adequate
evidence of employment. It was sufficient to make an overall finding
that, at no point in that period, did the applicant satisfy
the employment test
prescribed by item 6A81(b).
Failure to consider unarticulated claim/relevant consideration
- The
applicant also submitted that the Tribunal failed to consider his claim that his
assistance in the warehouse was voluntary, outside
the scope of, and over and
above, his employment as an IT support technician.
- As
the summary of facts set out earlier in these reasons records, this issue arose
out of a site visit which officers of the Minister’s
department made to
Mosskito, during which they were informed that the applicant worked in the
warehouse as well as in the office
providing IT support. The Tribunal raised
this information with the applicant in a s.359A notice and his then-solicitors
responded,
in part by submitting a letter from Mosskito which
stated:
- We wish to
point out that this is not a part of the employment conditions, but is only an
occasional help provided voluntarily to
ensure work is completed on time. Mr
Prabu’s duties have been in the area of IT support, not in the warehouse.
His help is
only in addition to his regular duties as IT support
technician.
- The
applicant pointed to the Tribunal’s comments in para.54 of its decision
record where it said:
- The last
point made in the General Manager‘s letter is of some concern because if
true it suggests that the visa applicant
may have worked in excess of 20 hours
per week. The Tribunal put this possibiliy to the visa applicant by letter on 9
April 2009,
who simply asserted that he never worked more than 20 hours per week
in the relevant period. The Tribunal makes no findings on this
point.
- The
applicant submitted that the Tribunal’s statement that it would make
“no findings” concerning whether the work
in the warehouse was over
and above the twenty hours per week evidenced a failure to consider a claim
expressly made or squarely
raised by the material before the Tribunal and which
it was obliged to consider. He identified that claim to be one that, because
it
was voluntary, the additional work did not amount to employment as relevantly
understood by the Regulations. The applicant submitted
that the Tribunal
proceeded on the assumption that the voluntary work constituted employment and
had to be taken into account when
considering whether he was, for at least six
months in the forty-eight months preceding his visa application,
“employed”
in the sense of “engaged in an occupation for
remuneration for at least 20 hours weekly”.
- The
applicant referred to reg.2.26A(7) where the definition of
“employed” depends on there being remuneration. Reference
was also
made to De Ronde v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural &
Indigenous Affairs [2004] FMCA 519 where Riethmuller FM held that where
“engaged in an occupation” is used in reg.2.26A(7), it means
actively participating
in or undertaking duties directly connected with the
carrying out of the occupation concerned. In Morais v Minister for
Immigration, Local Government & Ethnic Affairs [1995] FCA 1074; (1995) 54 FCR 498 at 500,
Kiefel J said that an essential feature of an occupation is remuneration in
exchange for effort. On this basis, it was submitted,
any work performed by the
applicant on a voluntarily basis could not be considered to be work falling
within the scope of his “employment”,
as that term is relevantly
understood by the Regulations.
- In
relation to the Tribunal’s asserted obligation to consider this postulated
claim, the applicant referred to NABE v Minister for Immigration &
Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs (No.2) [2004] FCAFC 263; (2004) 144 FCR 1. There the
Full Court of the Federal Court said that a claim, even if it is not expressly
advanced, will attract the Tribunal’s
review obligation when it is
apparent on the face of the material before the Tribunal and does not depend for
its exposure on constructive
or creative activity on the part of the Tribunal
(at 19 [58]). As Allsop J said in NAVK v Minister for Immigration
& Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2004] FCA 1695 at
[15]:
- A practical
and common sense approach to everyday decision-making requires the unarticulated
claim to arise tolerably clearly from
the material itself, since the statutory
task of the Tribunal is to assess the claims by reference to all the material,
not to undertake
an independent analytical exercise of the material for the
discovery of potential claims which might be made, but which have not
been, and
then subjecting them to further analysis to assess their
legitimacy.
- Given
the Tribunal’s s.359A notice dated 9 April 2009 and the reply which the
applicant’s then-solicitors made to it,
I do not find that the applicant
should be considered to have made an unarticulated claim that his voluntary work
did not amount
to employment for the purposes of the Regulations. In its s.359A
notice the Tribunal advised the applicant that information before
it appeared to
show that he had worked for more than twenty hours per week in some parts of the
employment period and for less than
twenty hours per week in others. In
addition to identifying that information, the Tribunal explained its relevance
in the following
terms:
- This
information is relevant to the review because it may show that the visa
applicant was not employed for 20 hours per week as
required by the definition
of ‘employed’ for the purposes of regulation 6A81(b), and it may
show that in some periods
the visa applicant was employed for more than 20 hours
per week in breach of his student visa condition. (emphasis
added)
His then-solicitors responded on 6 May 2009 saying,
amongst other things:
The applicant has never worked more than the permitted work limit within his
student visa. All the documents submitted to the Department
and to the MRT
clearly show that he has worked 20 hours per week during the relevant period
(attached page 84 to 93 in DIAC’s
file). We fail to understand, how the
Tribunal concluded the fact that the applicant may have breached the visa
condition related
to the work limit.
- It
is apparent from that letter that the applicant was aware of the significance of
working exactly twenty hours per week. To do
fewer would mean he could not
satisfy one of the conditions for the grant of the new visa which he sought but
to do more would breach
his existing visa conditions. Moreover, whether any
particular work was voluntary or remunerated was likely to be irrelevant to
the
condition on his then-current visa. As the Tribunal said at
para.42:
- In the
context of this visa ‘work means an activity that, in Australia, normally
attracts remuneration’, whether remuneration
is actually paid or
not.
Consequently, the applicant should be understood
to have told the Tribunal in his reply to the s.359A notice that the totality of
his work for Mosskito was exactly twenty hours every week. Far from flagging
the claim which it is now submitted he was making without
expressing it, in that
reply he was saying that the work he performed on a voluntary basis never caused
him to work more than twenty
hours per week. Put another way, the voluntary
work was part of those twenty hours.
- The
Tribunal’s statement in para.54 of its decision record that it would make
“no findings” on the question of whether
the applicant worked more
than twenty hours per week in the relevant period does not reflect a failure by
it to consider whether
the voluntary work should or should not have been taken
into account when considering whether the applicant had been
“employed”
as defined by reg.2.26A(7). Rather, it reflects the fact
that the Tribunal had no need to consider whether the applicant had breached
a
term of his student visa by working more than twenty hours per week. It also
evidenced the Tribunal’s preparedness to accept
what the applicant’s
then-solicitors had said in their letter of 6 May 2009 – that he had never
worked more than twenty
hours in any week. The discussion at paras.53-54 of the
Tribunal’s decision record reveals that it considered the
applicant’s
response to the s.359A notice to mean, when it said that the
applicant never worked more than the number of hours permitted by his
student
visa, that his work, both paid and voluntary, did not exceed the twenty hour
weekly limit imposed by his visa.
- Moreover,
implicitly relying on its understanding of the response to the s.359A notice,
and contrary to the applicant’s submissions,
the Tribunal did consider
what significance should be attached to the voluntary work. Paragraph 55 of its
decision, quoted above
at [24], expresses the conclusion that the
applicant’s weekly work of no more than twenty hours included his
voluntary work.
- The
applicant further submitted, and in the alternative, that the Tribunal failed to
take account of a relevant consideration in the
sense that it failed to consider
whether or not his voluntary work was or was not “employment” as
relevantly understood
by the Regulations. However, the voluntary work was,
essentially, unskilled or semi-skilled labouring in Mosskito’s warehouse,
not the skilled occupation of IT support technician in respect of which the
applicant made his claim for bonus points. It was not
necessary for the
Tribunal to consider whether the voluntary work was to be considered
“employment” because, as the Tribunal’s
decision makes clear,
it would not amount to skilled employment which was the only sort of work which
was relevant to consider in
the context of item 6A81(b).
Conclusion
- Jurisdictional
error on the part of the Tribunal has not been demonstrated.
- Consequently,
the application will be dismissed.
I certify that the preceding
forty-two (42) paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for judgment of Cameron
FM
Associate:
Date: 18 September 2009
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