The number of Malaysians making the appeal made up about 50 per cent of the total number of cases in the second half of last year. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 — Malaysians who are claiming refugee status form the majority of appeal cases in Australia among those seeking migration or residency in the country, Sydney-based The Australian reported today.

The report said the number of Malaysians making the appeal made up about 50 per cent of the total number of cases in the second half of last year.

“But I can tell you in terms of the caseload what we’re seeing for lodgements. There have been significant increases in the migration and refugee side of things, but particularly in the refugee caseload a large number of Malaysian applications.

“I think they represent about 50 per cent of lodgements," the report quoted Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) registrar, Sian Leathem saying.

The AAT is an Australian government agency tasked with reviewing decisions made by its government, with its two biggest divisions being that for migration and refugees, apart from social security and child support.

Leathem said the AAT had set aside 30 per cent of migration cases in the second half of 2017, with only five per cent being refugee cases.

“I would say that has been impacted by the high volume of Malaysian matters that are being dealt with, and there’s a significant number of people in that category who often will not turn up for a hearing, so the set aside rate has been effectively a lot lower for that cohort of cases, so I suspect that’s impacting on the overall set-aside number,” she was quoted as saying.

Leathem however did not provide reasons for the reportedly large number of Malaysians seeking refugee status in Australia.

The AAT registrar told a Senate committee on budget estimates that it received 19,039 applications in the second half of 2017, a 51 per cent increase from the same period in the previous year.

Between 2016 and 2017, it received 51,426 applications, a 24 per cent increase from the previous year.