Abraham v The Hon Peter Charles Collier MLC, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs

The case of Abraham v The Hon Peter Charles Collier MLC, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs was heard by the Supreme Court of Western Australia. The plaintiff, Ms Abraham, an Aboriginal woman, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA). The decision in question involved the Minister granting his consent to the construction of the Roe Highway extension, which would destroy or damage a registered Aboriginal site. Ms Abraham argued that she was denied procedural fairness during the decision-making process by the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee.

The court was required to decide whether the application was out of time, whether leave should be granted for the application to proceed, and if there was any prejudice to the respondents as a result of the delay. Additionally, the court needed to determine if Ms Abraham had standing to bring the application for judicial review and if there was a denial of procedural fairness in the decision-making process.

The court found that Ms Abraham had standing to bring the application for judicial review despite not being a party to the decision-making process. The court also determined that leave should be granted for the application to proceed out of time, as there was an explanation for the delay and no evidence of prejudice to the respondents. However, the court dismissed the application on the merits, finding that there was no denial of procedural fairness. Ms Abraham had not demonstrated that there was an obligation on the Committee to consult with her personally, and she had not shown that the time given to prepare submissions was inadequate. The court concluded that it was unnecessary to decide whether natural justice required that the Committee or its chair be given an opportunity to comment, or if Ms Abraham could complain of a denial of procedural fairness to the Committee or its chair.

The final orders of the court were to grant leave to bring the application out of time and to dismiss the application on its merits.