A female relative of the deposed Fijian prime minister would be in real danger from the island nation's military rulers if she was sent home, a Canberra court has ruled.
And the Federal Magistrates Court said the Refugee Review Tribunal was in error when it denied the woman a protection visa after considering the woman's case as if she was an ''ordinary Fijian''.
Federal Magistrate Warwick Neville issued orders against the tribunal last week, ruling the woman and her children could stay in Australia and directing the federal government to pay the woman's legal costs.
The woman, who cannot be named, is related to former Fijian prime minister Laisenia Qarase, who was overthrown in a military coup in 2006.
The court was told the woman was a member of Mr Qarase's SDL Party and had been politically active both in Fiji and here in Australia, where she lives with her children in a large NSW town.
Then minister for immigration Chris Evans denied her a protection visa in April 2010, despite the woman having lost her job after being seen on Fijian television supporting Mr Qarase during a court appearance and being warned by the military authorities not to associate with the former prime minister.
When she appealed the minister's decision to the Refugee Review Tribunal, advice from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the review body said the regime was known to have engaged in threatening and intimidatory conduct.
But the department said it believed the targeting of the families of former ministers was unlikely. Foreign Affairs and Trade advised that ordinary Fijians taking part in protest activities outside of Fiji could potentially be subject to harm upon returning to the country, although generally only high profile activists were targeted by the regime.
But Mr Neville found the tribunal had erred badly in assessing the woman as an ordinary citizen of the island nation.
''The reality is that the applicant cannot be properly described as an 'ordinary Fijian,''' the Federal Magistrate wrote in his judgment.
''She is closely related to a deposed former prime minister.
''In the past she has lost her employment, and had her email communications monitored.''
The woman's lawyer, Chanaka Bandarage, said his client had nearly given up hope of finding sanctuary in Australia after her failure in the Refugee Review Tribunal. ''She was knocked back by the Immigration Department and by the tribunal as well and she thought her chances were very slim and that she would be sent back to face human rights violations, but now she thinks that it was definitely worthwhile,'' Mr Bandarage said.
''She's very happy and her children are too.''
The Canberra lawyer said she was always confident the Federal Magistrates Court would find the tribunal's errors.
''We always had confidence in this matter, although it's not easy to get a favourable decision from the Federal Magistrates Court,'' Mr Bandarage said.
''We thought we ran a very strong argument, showed the errors made by the tribunal and that very strong evidence was disregarded by the tribunal.''
This reporter is on Twitter: @noeltowell
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