Bond & Ors v Australian Broadcasting Tribunal

[1988] HCATrans 202

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Office of the Registry

Sydney No Sl02 of 1988

B e t w e e n -

ALAN BOND,
BOND MEDIA LIMITED,

BOND CORPORATION HOLDINGS LIMITEQ,

QUEENSLAND TELEVISION LIMITED,

CONSOLIDATED BROADCASTING
SYSTEM (W.A.) PTY LIMITED,

NORTHWEST RADIO PTY LIMITED and

DARWIN BROADCASTERS PTY LIMITED

Respondent/Applicants

and

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING TRIBUNAL

Applicant/Respondent

Application for expedition

MASON CJ

Bond
( In	Chambers)

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT CANBERRA ON FRIDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 1988, AT 9.30AM

Copyright in the High Court of Australia

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MR L. KATZ: If Your Honour pleases, I appear for the

applicant on the summons. (instructed by the

Australian Government Solicitor)

MR J. FORD:  May it please the Court, I appear for the

respondent. (instructed by Blake Dawson Waldron)

HIS HONOUR:	Mr Katz.
MR KATZ:	If Your Honour pleases, this is an application for
expedition of an application for special leave to appeal to this Court. I rely on the affidavit of
Stephen John Hall.
HIS HONOUR:	Yes, I have read the affidavit.
MR KATZ:	If Your Honour pleases, could I ask Your Honour please
to go to paragraph 5 of the affidavit which appears
on page 3 and ask Your Honour, at least notionally,
to strike from paragraph 5 the second sentence in
that paragraph on which I do not seek to rely.
HIS HONOUR:	What do you mean by that? You do not seek to rely

on it or it is incorrect?

MR KATZ:	I do not seek to read the second sentence in
paragraph - - -
HIS HONOUR:	Is that because it is incorrect or because you

regard it as having no relevance?

MR KATZ:  I do not seek to read it as a result of agreement
with the respondents to this summons, Your Honour.

HIS HONOUR:  I see. Now the ground for this application is

stated in paragraph 7,is it?

MR KATZ:	Your Honour, I have reduced, in order to save
Your Honour's time, to writing the submissions which
I do make in support of the application, it might
be convenient if I simply hand them to Your Honour
and then if Your Honour allows me to do so,to speak
to them briefly.

(Continued on page 3)

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HIS HONOUR:  Yes, I was going to say to you, Mr Katz, the

ground actually set forth in paragraph 7 of the

affidavit is a ground that I just could not

possibly accept, namely, that the presentation of the special leave application on 14 October

would so divert the attention of the parties'

legal representatives as to mean that the inquiry

could not resume on 17 October.	That seems to
me to be a ludicrous proposition.

MR KATZ:  Yes. Your Honour, with respect, the paragraph

is rather argumentative than factual and the

submission which I - - -

HIS HONOUR: Well, not merely that, it is an argument ~hat

has no substance to it at all. If the fact is that

the legal representatives are going to have their

attention on the inquiry to be conducted by the

tribunal so diverted, then I suggest that other

legal representatives who are not so susceptible

to distraction should be instructed in the matter.

MR KATZ:	Your Honour sees, I hope, from the outline which I have handed to Your Honour -
HIS HONOUR:	Yes, but you deserted that.
MR KATZ:	- - that the concern from o·;.1r point of view - - -

HIS HONOUR:  Yes, I agree. I can understand that but I

wanted to draw atter,.tion to the fact that what
was stated in the affidavit wa8 quite unacceptable

fro:.n n:y point of view.

MR KATZ:	I follow entirely what Your Honour says.
HIS :HONOUR:	And if you can get that message through to

others, then I think you should make it your

business to make sure that the message does get

through.

MR KATZ:  Yes.

HIS HONOUR: But, now, come back to the submissions that

you make.

MR KATZ:	Yes.
HIS HONOUR:	Can I ask your opponent, first of all, what his

attitude is to this application for expedition.

MR FORD:	Your Honour, we would be happy for the matter to be dealt with earlier than 14 October. However,
we appreciate it is entirely a matter for the Court.

HIS HONOUR:  Yes, I see. Now, Mr Katz, the problem is this:

we cannot expedite it to a date as early as next

Friday. The list for next Friday is full and I

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am not prepared to displace parties who have been

informed that their case will be coming on next Friday in order to substitute this case for one of those.

MR KATZ:	Yes, Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR:	Now, as things currently stand, I do not think

you would get into the list for 14 October and I

would certainly give it that expedition, but it

is possible, indeed probable, that we could hear

the application towards the end of the first week

of the October sitting; that is on 6 or 7 October,

and I would be prepared to expedite the case so that

if it is possible, as I believe it will be possible,

the Court will hear it on Thursday, 6 October or

Friday, 7 October.

MR KATZ: Well, I would certainly seek an order for

expedition then to whichever of those dates was,

in the result, convenient to the Court.

HIS HONOUR:	Yes, well, I am prepared to make an order for expedition and I think it is sufficient if I make
an order for expedition in those general terms and
indicate to you that my expectation is that it
would be heard on the 6th or 7th and I suggest the
parties keep in touch with the Registrar.

MR KATZ: If Your Honour ple.ases.

HIS HONOUR:  Very well. I make an order for expedition

accordingly and the Court will now adjourn.

AT 9.36 AM THE MATTER WAS ADJOURNED SINE DIE

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