The Refugee Applications Commissioner relied on country of origin information in the Section 13 Report that was not furnished to the applicant. The applicant claimed that he was entitled to the documents prior to the decision being made in order to consider and respond to them.
The Court granted the relief sought, finding that Section 11(6) of the Refugee Act 1996 had not been complied with and that Section 11(6) imposed an obligation on the Commissioner to furnish an applicant with all relevant information prior to the making of the recommendation. The Court noted that the only information that could be excluded from the Commissioner’s obligation under Section 11(6) is that which comes under Section 11(7), i.e. anything that might be in breach of inter-State confidentiality
