“The latest hearing in the
on-going Spencer b. Commonwealth of Australia case was held on Monday 12 November
in front of 3 judges including Chief Justice Keane constituting the Federal
Court of Appeal. Peter Spencer was represented by barrister Peter King;
the Commonwealth is represented by the Commonwealth Government Solicitor (CGS).
Peter Spencer has appealed a
decision by Justice Emmett denying Spencer access to Cabinet documents as these
documents are subject to “public interest immunity”.
The day was fundamentally about the Commonwealth of
Australia opposing Spencer’s appeal on the basis that the evidence produced for
the Appeal is not applicable.
This
turned out to be a gruelling day.
Peter King started his oral submission and spoke for a
long time… re-stating Spencer’s position that (in the light of the High
Court decision), Spencer should have access to the cabinet documents he has
requested.
Then Howard (for the CGS) went through Spencer’s
statement of claim disputing King’s submission on points of law.
King then disputed Howard’s arguments, including putting
forward the morality of the case. Peter King was very good in his
oral submissions arguing his interpretation of two High Court precedence
cases with regard to parliamentary privilege, he certainly has given the judges
something to think about.
The 3 judges then reserved their decision – to be handed
down at a later date. These 3 judges have previously (supported Justice
Emmett and) ruled in favour of parliamentary privilege; whereas the unanimous
decision of the High Court in September 2010 in Spencer’s case is that
parliamentary privilege is not absolute and is open to discretion if it will
result in a loss of justice to Mr Spencer. In effect the
Federal Court judges are between a rock and a hard place. If they support
Emmett and the Commonwealth – they are finding against the High Court
decision.
To
say the least, the decision of the 3 Federal Court judges will be interesting.
The tactics of the Commonwealth are obvious – with
infinite resources the CGS can keep on putting up delaying tactic after
delaying tactic to continue to frustrate and hold up progress of Spencer’s case
in every way possible. And unfortunately, the law responds and deals with
this matter very very slowly…. It can be seen that the Law (as a whole)
only gets stirred into action (and becomes responsive) when there is real
public pressure.”
Later published related discussions
.
Good to hear an update, Ian and Dale. We all know this is now another banned topic for The Creator after it was top of the pops over on his site for years. No explanations for it being dropped just that he tired of the lack of progress.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of people interested to hear of any progress of the Peter Spencer story; I believe that its important that information is handed on.
ReplyDeleteSpencer may be a difficult personality & recent developments in his campaign may not be without fault but his cause & that of many other farmers that were caught in this situation is a just one. The Spencer team is also in pocession of some very revealing documents, if they are ever able to use them to their full advantage.
Good to see the update ..keep them coming Ian.
ReplyDeleteHi Tony and Dale, seems we pricked a raw nerve over in the parallel universe where The Inheritor (not really The Creator) has declared war. Makes a change from the more pressing debate over there about who's going and who's staying, and other pathetic carry- ons. No wonder the members of Climate Deniers Watch are having so much fun watching.
ReplyDeleteI can only speak for myself in that the quick decision to pull the plug was one of the most satisfying things I've ever done and it was a very easy decision when I was told the site was for people with minds like the fearless leader's. Wouldn't want to be tarred with that brush, but each of us is different and each will follow their own conscience.
For me, there is no "war" just a great sense of relief.
Ian Hampton has sent the following not so good news about the decesion by the 3 High Court judges.
ReplyDelete“Spencer’s appeal supported by the AFFF against the decision by Justice Emmett denying Spencer access to Cabinet documents, was struck down unanimously by the 3 Federal Court judges on Monday 26 November. In effect the 3 judges have reinforced the “principle” of parliamentary privilege. This is disappointing to say the least. Spencer already has cabinet documents; however he needs more so that he can present this complex story involving UN agreements, Commonwealth Government greenhouse gas reduction commitments, scientific study about the effectiveness of carbon sequestration in native trees, intergovernmental agreements, COAG, Kyoto and native vegetation legislation which has developed over about 25 years.
So far there is no record of the Federal Court decision on the AustLII site http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinosrch.cgi?query=spencer+v+Commonwealth+of+Australia&results=50&submit=Search&mask_world=&mask_path=&callback=on&method=auto&meta=%2Fau
The next directions hearing of Spencer v Commonwealth of Australia will be in the Federal Court, Sydney on Friday 14 December. I will advise more detail when I get that. The tactics of both sides will be interesting; it is anticipated that the Commonwealth will be emboldened by the Appeal decision.”
Latest from Alastair McRobert
ReplyDelete"Peter Spencer and his team have there eyes firmly on the ball for Friday 14th and have not made decisions whether to appeal (the Federal Court decision) or not.
Regards
Alastair"
This discussion about Peter Spencer is running at third all time most viewed discussion posted on this site. I just added to the end of the discussion above the links to two more discussion published about peter Spencer at a later date.
ReplyDelete