Ben Ward & Ors , At-G of NT, State of WA & Ors

This matter concerned an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia. The applicants, Ben Ward and others, sought to challenge decisions made by the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory and the State of Western Australia, and by the respective Attorneys-General of those states. The precise nature of the dispute involved the applicants' assertion of rights and interests in relation to certain lands.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the applicants had established a sufficient arguable case to warrant the grant of special leave to appeal. This required the Court to consider whether the applicants' proposed grounds of appeal raised important questions of law or whether there were other compelling reasons for the High Court to grant leave, such as a need to resolve conflicting decisions of other courts.

The High Court, comprising Kirby and Hayne JJ, ultimately refused special leave to appeal. Their Honours concluded that the applicants had not demonstrated that the decisions under appeal were attended by error, nor that the matters raised were of such public importance or legal significance as to justify the High Court's intervention. The Court found that the applicants had failed to establish an arguable case for the grant of special leave.