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Complementary Protection Australia 2026: Real Risk of Significant Harm Explained
Complementary protection is a separate pathway within Australia's protection framework. It can apply where a person does not meet the statutory refugee criterion but Australia nevertheless has protection obligations because removal would expose the person to a real risk of significant harm.
The section 36(2)(aa) test
Section 36(2)(aa) of the Migration Act 1958 requires substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal to a receiving country, there is a real risk that the person will suffer significant harm.
Legislation: Migration Act 1958 — section 36.
What counts as significant harm?
Section 36(2A) identifies five categories: arbitrary deprivation of life; the death penalty being carried out; torture; cruel or inhuman treatment or punishment; and degrading treatment or punishment.
When is there taken not to be a real risk?
Section 36(2B) contains important qualifications. A real risk can be excluded where reasonable relocation is available, where effective protection from an authority is available, or where the risk is one faced by the population generally rather than personally by the applicant.
Complementary protection is not the same as refugee status
The refugee and complementary protection criteria are legally distinct. A protection application should address each applicable criterion separately rather than assuming that failure under one automatically determines the other.
See our Protection Visa 866 guide.
