CAT/C/49/D/416/2010 on behalf of the complainant, another ministerial intervention request to the Minister under sections 417 and 48B of the Migration Act. It contained new evidence and information on the torture he endured and his practice of Falun Gong, including further details on the complainant’s persecution and torture in China, witness statements from Falun Gong practitioners in China on the complainant’s practice of Falun Gong and subsequent arrest, a witness statement from the complainant’s roommate in Sydney attesting to his regular practice of Falun Gong in Australia, and a medical report from an independent psychiatrist in Sydney, dated 10 June 2009, relating to the complainant’s incarceration in China. On 8 January 2010, the ministerial intervention was refused. The complainant states that the Ministerial Intervention Unit found his claims were fully dealt with by the delegate of the Minister for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and the Refugee Review Tribunal in 2005 and were assessed again in April 2009 in his first request for ministerial intervention. It also found that there was no evidence to suggest that he possessed the profile of someone the Chinese authorities would consider could oppose the Government in an effective and organized way, and that his low profile of Falun Gong practice in Australia meant that he was not a person of interest to the Chinese authorities if he were to be returned to China. 2.6 On 3 February 2010, following this ministerial refusal, the complainant lodged an appeal to the Federal Court of Australia against the previous decision of the Federal Magistrates Court dated 13 March 2007. Since the appeal was outside the prescribed time limits, the complainant made an application for an extension of the time within which he might file and serve a notice of appeal. On 12 March 2010, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed the complainant’s application for an extension of time. 2.7 The complainant submits that he made no application to the High Court of Australia to appeal the judgment of the Federal Court of Australia, because, in line with the findings of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, any appeal to the High Court would “not have constituted an effective remedy” given that the Federal Court had already determined it was unable to consider merit arguments. A last request for ministerial intervention was submitted to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship on 15 March 2010, with new information and evidence. This request had not been answered at the time of submission of the initial communication by the complainant. 2.8 The complainant claims that his application for a Protection Visa was obstructed from the start by the registered migration agent1 assisting him, who failed to provide specific details and supporting evidence for his protection claims and, among others, did not detail the extent and nature of the torture he had endured. He stresses that the migration agent’s negligence was also the reason why he never had the opportunity to appear before the Refugee Review Tribunal to present his claims in person and in more detail, as the latter supplied a wrong address to the Tribunal and failed to inform the complainant of the date and time of the hearing. The complainant further claims that during the hearing before the Federal Magistrates Court he was unrepresented and had no documents with him because the migration agent had refused to represent him in court. 1 4 According to the official website of the Department of Migration and Citizenship of the Australian Government (www.mara.gov.au/), migration agents must be registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA). MARA is defined as “a discrete office attached to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship”, the functions of which are set out in section 316 of the Migration Act 1958. Registered migration agents are bound by a code of conduct and are required to have an in-depth knowledge of Australian migration law and procedure and meet high professional and ethical standards. Applicants for any type of visa are advised by the website to use a migration agent to submit their applications.