2016] The Protection of Stateless Persons in Australian Law 433 together with country information,166 the applicant’s evidence together with identity documentation,167 or all three.168 Very few of the decisions we considered examined the nationality laws of the countries with which the applicant had links.169 A failure to engage in such analysis makes it impossible to effectively assess whether or not the applicant is stateless. In some decisions, the applicant was found to be stateless without any reference to the applicant’s evidence, country information or the nationality laws of relevant countries or otherwise.170 Perhaps of most concern was that some decision-makers did not even consider or make a finding with regard to the applicant’s claim to be stateless.171 In the majority of decisions, statelessness assessments were linked to identity assessments. Some decision-makers were reluctant to examine independently whether the applicant was stateless where there were doubts about the applicant’s credibility,172 and/or there was insufficient information to support the applicant’s claim.173 Importantly, some decision-makers accepted that the applicant’s statelessness forced him or her to travel on fraudulent documents.174 Yet, in other decisions, where applicants claimed that the identity documents in their possession were false, their evidence was found not to be credible.175 Instead, the documents were relied on by the decisionmaker as evidence of the applicant’s identity.176 These inconsistencies in 166 1215874 [2013] RRTA 585 (26 August 2013); 1317610 [2014] RRTA 472 (28 May 2014). 167 1106804 [2011] RRTA 1046 (21 December 2011); 1113683 [2012] RRTA 611 (9 August 2012). 168 1007661 [2010] RRTA 1063 (25 November 2010); 0805551 [2009] RRTA 24 (15 January 2009); 1310456 [2014] RRTA 881 (17 December 2014). 169 Decisions engaging with these nationality laws include: 1311115 [2013] RRTA 822 (25 November 2013); 0802146 [2008] RRTA 274 (23 July 2008); 1111306 [2012] RRTA 265 (23 April 2012); 1102027 [2011] RRTA 996 (17 November 2011); N04/49992 [2005] RRTA 63 (29 March 2005). 170 See 1211453 [2013] RRTA 345 (13 May 2013). 171 N05/52051 [2005] RRTA 257 (4 October 2005). 172 1402190 [2014] RRTA 602 (28 July 2014) [59]–[64] (Member Shanahan); SZSSV v Minister for Immigration [2013] FCCA 1539 (13 September 2013) [13], summarising the RRT decision below; SZQZK v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2012] FMCA 490 (8 June 2012) [22]–[28], summarising the decision below of the independent merits reviewer. 173 1311126 [2014] RRTA 173 (3 March 2014) [41] (Member Irish). 174 1107430 [2011] RRTA 790 (8 September 2011) [32] (Member Jacovides); 1006929 [2010] RRTA 841 (27 September 2010) [29]–[30] (Member Jacovides). 175 1303526 [2013] RRTA 815 (19 November 2013) [45]–[46] (Member Kamand). 176 Ibid [10].