Immigration – Refugees - Exclusion from Convention protection for commission of "serious non-political crime" - Meaning of "serious non-political crime" - Whether murder can ever be a political crime - Proportionality of crime to political purpose - Relevance of revenge motive - Whether political purpose must be dominant, sole or significant purpose.
Immigration – Refugees - Exclusion from Convention protection - Commission of offence prior to "admission - as a refugee" - Meaning of reference to admission as refugee - Whether refugee status must be determined before consideration of exclusion.
Judicial review – Jurisdiction - Review for errors of law - Interpretation of "serious non-political crime" in Refugees Convention - Decision about whether murder was a political crime - Whether decision reviewable for error of law.
Words and phrases – "serious non-political crime" - "common crimes" - "pure political crimes" - "admission - as a refugee".
Migration Act 1958 (Cth) – s 36(2).
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 – as amended by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 1967, Art 1F(b).
Judgment date
Case number
A11/2001
Before
Gleeson CJ, Gaudron, McHugh, Kirby, Callinan JJ
Catchwords