424 Melbourne University Law Review [Vol 40:401 Ministerial Direction [No 56] — Consideration of Protection Visa Applications115 requires: decision-makers, including the Tribunal, to take account of the Department of Immigration’s ‘PAM3: Refugee and [H]umanitarian — Complementary Protection Guidelines’ and ‘PAM3: Refugee and [H]umanitarian — Refugee Law Guidelines’ to the extent that they are relevant to the decision under consideration.116 The latter contains a part called ‘Assessing claims of statelessness guidelines’, whose stated purpose is ‘to help PV decision-makers make findings in relation to claims of statelessness for the purpose of a PV assessment.’117 Protection Visa decisions relate to whether or not someone is a refugee or in need of complementary protection. Indeed, PAM3 notes that: Statelessness is not defined in the Act and there is no legislative basis for making a determination of whether an applicant is stateless. Instead, assessing claims of statelessness: is an administrative process closely linked to establishing identity, and supports a robust PV assessment, especially where the harm relates to statelessness.118 Accordingly, a key initial criticism of the PAM3 is that although the statelessness guidelines were formulated in response to Australia’s 2011 pledge ‘to better identify stateless persons and assess their claims’,119 their scope is limited to refugee and complementary protection assessments. As explained the art 1(A)(2) refugee definition, which is paraphrased to include that term), it was not possible to consider how Australian courts and tribunals have considered all stateless applicants without searching for specific countries of former habitual residence or ethnic groups. 115 Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (Cth), Direction [No 56] — Consideration of Protection Visa Applications, 21 June 2013. 116 Migration and Refugee Division Legal Services Section, Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Guide to Refugee Law: Chapter 12 — Merits Review of Protection Visa Decisions (2016) 12-4 <http://www.aat.gov.au/migration-and-refugee-division/mrd-resources/guide-to-refugeelaw>. With respect to PAM3’s role in decision making, the guidelines state that: Being statements of departmental policy, PAM3 instructions must be considered and given due weight by ministerial delegates in deciding applications and exercising associated decision-making powers. Policy must not, however, be regarded as inflexible and decision-makers must not give it the same force as law. Department of Immigration and Border Protection (Cth), Procedures Advice Manual 3: Contents and Readers Guide (10 September 2016) 29. 117 Department of Immigration and Border Protection (Cth), PAM3, above n 93, 125 [75]. 118 Ibid 125 [76]. 119 UNHCR, Pledges 2011, above n 14, 49.