Citizen Limbo v Officer
[1990] HCATrans 56
IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA Registry
B e t w e e n -
CITIZEN LIMBO
Applicant
and
OFFICER LITTLE
Respondent
Application for waiver of fees and
application for extension of time
to lodge application for special
leave to appeal
BRENNAN J
(In Chambers)
Limbo (2) TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
AT CANBERRA ON WEDNESDAY, 4 APRIL 1990, AT 9.17 AM
Copyright in the High Court of Australia
C3Tl/l/RB 1 4/4/90
MR LIMBO: Sir, I appear in person on this matter. HIS HONOUR: Yes, Mr Limbo. MR LIMBO: Sir, could I be addressed as citizen - to be non gender specific, could I be addressed as citizen,
rather than Mr, sir? I think that is now an option in government policy to be termed citizen rather than
Mr or Miss.
HIS HONOUR: Is citizen the title of some sort?
MR LIMBO: No, sir, it is in a same way as Mr or Miss. It is now adopted as government policy, I understand,and
it has been since last year that you can be titled
citizen rather than Mr or Miss.
HIS HONOUR: I see. Yes, very well. CITIZEN LIMBO: Thank you, sir. HIS HONOUR: Well now, what do you have to say? CITIZEN LIMBO: I have a lot to say, as usual, but I will try and keep it brief.
I do not know which summons you have before
you, whether you have the original ex parte summons
of two pages or a one page summons.
HIS HONOUR: There is an ex parte summons here which is seeking orders that the Court fees in the matter be waived
or postponed until after final judgment and the time
for lodging the application for special leave be
extended.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes, sir. There was a summons before that which was refused for acceptance by the Registrar on
the basis that, according to the Registrar, the
Court had no power to grant the orders I was seeking
and faced with having to take out a writ of mandamus
.to make the Registrar receive the summons, I thought it expedient to comply with his requests. If I could now hand up to you, sir, the summons that I attempted.
(Continued on page 3)
C3Tl/l/JH 2 CITIZEN LIMBO . 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
HIS HONOUR: What application are you now making? CITIZEN LIMBO: I am making an application for extension of time and waiver of fees.
HIS HONOUR: That is in the form of the summons that I have just mentioned, is that right?
CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes, sir, but the applications I wish to make
to you are embodied in the summons that I attempted to first lodge on 15 December 1989.
HIS HONOUR: Citizen Limbo, I just wish to know what
application you wish now to make. What application are you making?
CITIZEN LIMBO: I am making an application to waive fees and extend time but, in this summons which I am
attempting to hand up, sir, you will see I have
also asked that the matter be heard by video link
rather than me as an indigent person travelling
to Canberra and I have asked that I be allowed
access to the Court library and various other
matters of th8t kind and, in my view, the Courtcertainly has inherent power to grant those orders and since it is an ex parte matter I wish to - you
will hear more in a few minutes, sir, about the
Registrar's activities in relation to this matter
and another matter and - - -
HIS HONOUR: I do not propose to sit to listen to a speech.
I am going to listen to an application. You have told me that you have made an application in the
terms of the ex parte summons which was 23 March 1990.
You have also told me that you have sought to make
another application by summons.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes, sir.
HIS HONOUR: Now, those are two separate matters. Which one
do you wish to proceed on?
CITIZEN LIMBO: I wish to proceed on both, sir, since in my original - - -
HIS HONOUR: I do not propose to hear both at the same time. Which do you prefer to proceed on first?
(Continued on page 4)
C3T2/1 /SH 3 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
CITIZEN LIMBO: May I ask Your Honour if you have read the documents in this matter?
HIS HONOUR: I have not read the documents in the matter. CITIZEN LIMBO: I understood that the documents were being made available to you last Wednesday to peruse before this
application.
HIS HONOUR: No doubt the documents are here and available. You are at liberty to read whichever documents you
wish and to make whatever submission you wish to make.
CITIZEN LIMBO: I would have thought that in making this application for the Judge to deal with it would have
been, in the words of the Registrar's letter to me,
essential for Your Honour to have read the draftnotice of appeal, the application for leave and the
ex parte sununons and the affidavit accompanying that
which were on the court file.
HIS HONOUR: Well, it will not take a moment to do that.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Thank you, sir. HIS HONOUR: But I wish to know which application you are making. CITIZEN LIMBO:
Yes, sir. That is why I ask if you have read the documents because you will see that what I am
talking about in this matter is serious breaches of
the law by government officers. I know you do not want to hear a speech, ir. My submission is that I have been denied legal aid and there is a serious conflict
of interest in these matters inasmuch as the
Attorney-General is acting for these officers andthat one of the Conunonwealth officers of whose
actions I complain is the Registrar and I have an affidavit here which is handwritten and unphotocopied, in which I detail those matters, and I am prohibited by sheer basic economics from presenting this case to you properly. Your Honour
saw me last year appearing before you on another matter and I raised then the question of legal aid with Your Honour and your basic attitude was, ''Well, that is a very important issue. It does
deny people access but it is something that you should
have explored elsewhere", and one of the things I wishto say to you this morning as a judicial officer of the Conunonwealth, as opposed to an executive or
legislative officer, is that there is a serious problem
here with legal aid, sir. I know you do not want to here this because you think it is a speech but, I mean,
unfortunately, I have actually come here seeking justice this morning, sir, and I come here as a legally trained person with some experience in the matter.
C3T3/l/LW 4 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
CITIZEN LIMBO (continuing): In my.view there is a miscarriage
of justice which yc•tl, cH.: a , . .Tl:dge as a judicial officer have judicial power to, I would say,
intervene on but certainly connnent on.
HIS HONOUR: Citizen Limbo, in order to abbreviate these
proceedings as much as possible I will ask you
now to tell me what documents you wish to bring
to my attention in order that you can make whatever
submission you wish to make and any relief that you
wish to obtain. Just tell me what documents you are
referring to?
CITIZEN LIMBO: I refer to the affidavit of myself dated 13 December 1989 - - -
HIS HONOUR: Now, just a moment until I find them one by
one. We have got, first of all, the ex parte sunnnons which seeks the waiving of court fees - - -
CITIZEN LIMBO: Which was filed on Wednesday, 28th of - - - HIS HONOUR: And the time for lodging the application for special leave to be extended, is that right?
CITIZEN LIMBO: That is right, sir.
HIS HONOUR: Now what documents support that sunnnons? CITIZEN LIMBO: Right. There is an affidavit by me dated
13 December 1989 - - -
HIS HONOUR: Yes. CITIZEN LIMBO: - - - which contains as an introduction some paragraphs about the nature of the action, the
prospect of success and the question of means and
it has four exhibits. There is -
HIS HONOUR: Yes, and what are the exhibits?
CITIZEN LIMBO: The exhibits sir, are - should be attached and they concern my attempts to use the supreme court
library and my attempts to bring the matter before
the master in order to do that. The next document,
sir, is the application, special leave to appeal,
dated 13 December 1989.
HIS HONOUR: That is a separate document, is it, that you filed?
CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes, sir.HIS HONOUR: Yes, yes I have that.
C3T4/l/JL 5 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
CITIZEN LIMBO: It is backsheeted "Affidavit of" - myself - (Special Leave to Appeal, 13/12/89) which contains
an introduction; a concise statement of the factual
circumstances; a concise statement of the grounds
of challenge; specific questions of law and statementsto why they are sufficiently important; why the
judgment below was wrong and other reasons why leave
should be granted with a list of exhibits. Sir, the
exhibit I particularly draw your attention to is the
draft notice of appeal which is exhibit 8D to the
affidavit. Once again this is an exhibit dated
13 December 1989.
HIS HONOUR: Yes. CITIZEN LIMBO:
And those are the documents which I had assumed Your Honour would have had a chance to peruse
before this application as was indicated by the
Registrar's letter to me dated Wednesday of lastweek. HIS HONOUR: What other documents? CITIZEN LIMBO: Those are the documents. HIS HONOUR: Those are the documents. Yes, I see. All right,
now what application do you now wish to make? You
may make whatever application you wish based uponany or all of those documents.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Thank you, sir. Well, if I could now draw Your Honour's attention to the summons. If I may say by way of introduction, those documents were
all lodged by post at this Registry on or about
14 December 1989, certainly within the 21 day
time limit specified by the Rules. The su.nm1ons
that was lodged with those documents, air, if I
may now hand up to you, and you will see how itdiffers from the summons before you. If I might just -
perhaps I will just briefly explain those, sir.
I attempted to lodge these documents by post
because I claimed bias, both judicial and within the sy~tem of court offica:s in Darwin. This was rejected on the grounds that they would not accept documents
by post. I then attended personally at the Registry here and attempted to lodge documents and I was
refused on the basis that I had to put them in Darwin.
I then attempted to lodge them in Darwin and the
master refused to accept them and his basic reason
was because this summons sought things that the
court did not have power to grant and his attitude
was that if I wished to challenge that I would have
to take a writ of mandamus against a registrar,
which I am not sure is correct advice. It is one
of the matters I wish to raise with you this morning.
C3T5/l/DR 6 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
CITIZEN LIMBO·(continuing): So this summons, you will see, sir, differs not substantially in substance from
the one before you but it does seek certain orders
and it particularly draws the Court's attention
to the fact that legal aid applications have
been made and that - it is only a page and a
half, perhaps if Your Honour could peruse it.
HIS HONOUR: This is the ex parte summons?
CITIZEN LIMBO: This is the ex parte summons that was lodged. HIS HONOUR: Would you have a look at this document which
seems to be in the file here. I do not know whether that is the document which you sought
to lodge. Would you show tihat to· Citizen Limbo?
CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes. HIS HONOUR: Is that the document? CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes, sir. HIS HONOUR: So, if I read this this tells me what it is that you wish to say.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Could I have my copy back please, that is my only copy?
HIS HONOUR: Yes. CITIZEN LIMBO: If I may put this application in context,
at the moment there are three cases before this
Court and there are two or three more coming
which concern these issues. Your Honour is familiar with the "stop arms for export" campaign and
the attempt to ply United Nations conventions
directly in. Australiai There is this matter
which concerns a defence to a charge of trespass
and raises things like the Nuremberg principles
and the operation of the ordinary criminal law
in relation to serious crimes. The other side of the coin is a matter that is in the Full Federal Court on appeal at the
moment and will no doubt be coming to this Court
which is - rather than defending the charge to
trespass to raise these issues we have taken
out an action in negligence with an injunction to close, in these case, the nuclear targeting bases and there is the WAR CRIMES ACT constitutional
challenge happening in late May in which we are
seeking to intervene.
Once again, we argue that not only is the
WAR CRIMES ACT valid but that you do not need
C3T6/l /ND 7 CITIZEN LIMBO· 4/4/90
Limbo(2) (Continued on page 7A) particular international treaties specifically
for that in the circumstances and we rely on
the operation of the ordinary criminal law of
Australia. As Your Honour remarked when I was last before, you gave an example of the laws
against genocide are protected by the operation
of the ordinary criminal law and, of course,
we say that may be so but there are certain
deficiencies in the operation of the criminal
law and the administration of justice.
(Continued on page 8)
C3T6/2/ND CITIZEN LIMBO: 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
CITIZEN LIMBO: So those are the cases. Those three cases
are before this Court, I say. The Federal Court one is coming and there are two more to come. One is an administrative action against the Attorney-General,
the Ombudsman and the Human Rights Commission and
police and basic prosecutory devices saying, "Whose responsibility is it to in fact investigate and
prosecute serious breaches of the law, eg,
attempted murder, terrorism, poisoning oE the
environment'?" And the final one, sir, is an application,
once again administrative, against the Attorney-General
in relation to legal aid. The Attorney-General runs a reporting service; runs an office of legal aid
administration and a war crimes investigation unit
and a human rights section, and we say that between
the four of those assistance ought be provided in
cases where crimes against peace and humanity,as
defined by the United Nations, are alleged with
supporting material.
Sir, the other documents which I attempted to
lodge at this Registry on or about 14 December 1989,
were the 13 expert affidavits filed in the Federal
Court matter, the injunction matter I spoke about
which included expert testimony by a physicist, a
medical practitioner, a strategic defence expert,
four senators, a public radio broadcaster, an activist involved in raising a Hight Court challenge to do with
a peace tax and various other people, and those
affidavits, sir, were also lodged or attempted to be
lodged in the Darwin Registry a couple of weeks ago.
I do not know if Your Honour has those before you as
well. There should be perhaps an inch thick stack
of affidavits on your file.
HIS HONOUR: No, the documents that you have outlined to me seem to be the only ones that are here at the moment.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Well, presumably they have been left in the
Darwin Registry. Sir, these documents of which I
speak,and -which are referred' to in my handwritten
affidavit are the documents which were also lodged
at the High Court on or about 14· December 1989. (Continued on page 9)
C3T7/l/CM 8 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
CITIZEN LIMBO: The gist of this case has been to try and present evidence in a court of law under judicial
evidentiary requirements of evidence on oath,
cross-examination and the usual evidentiary
protections, to prove that the US spy bases, orjoint facilities as they are also known, are
involved in the nuclear targetting of civilian
populations in Australia and elsewhere, and we say
that is a crime under Australian law, because it is
terrorism, and conspiracy and complicity inattempted murder. These are offences well known
to the law. We also say it is a crime under
international law because it contravenes the
Nuremberg principles, which specifically prohibit
indiscriminate slaughter of non-civilians.
••
What I am saying about all these cases, sir, is
that this High Court is now in a position to become
the first supreme court of any nation in the world to actually declare that nuclear weapons are illegal
because they cause terrorism, mass murder and long-
term poisoning of the environment, and the two
questions that arise from that is; first of all, is
there any reason why this Court should not be the
first to do so and, secondly, is there any reason
why Australian citizens cannot freely and publicly
initiate legal actions to stop or prevent serious
crimes; crimes against peace and humanity as defined
by the Nuremberg principles of the United Nations?
I submit, sir, that what I have been doing for
the past 12 months is doing the work of an entire
law firm and I will briefly run through, for
Your Honour, what these documents are that appear on
this bench to demonstrate that and to in some way
throw myself upon the mercy of this Court and say,
"Help, I need a team of lawyers. I need administrative support". The government has spent three and three-
quarter million dollars on a war crimes investigation
which has produced one prosecution. So far I have had to live on the dole, from which I have had to provide a budget to operate this case, and it has meant
abandoning other career options.
(Continued on page 10)
C3T8/l/FK 9 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
CITIZEN LIMBO (continuing): Basically at the moment, sir,I say what is to stop me from going back and earning a substantial amount of money as a
private practitioner or a substantial amount
of money as a performance artist and, basically,
I feel as though I have been doing my duty as
a legal practitioner, as an officer of this
Court, to bring these matters before this
Court.
HIS HONOUR: First of all, tell me on what day was the
decision given in the court below against which
you wish to appeal?
CITIZEN LIMBO:
Yes, sir. That is a complicated answer and if you turn to the last page of the draft
notice of appeal, which is paragraph 3, orders sought, you will see that there are 12 orders that I am seeking and essentially those are the matters on which the Full Court was dealing. To summarize them, sir - - -
HIS HONOUR: No. I asked you what date? CITIZEN LIMBO: Sorry. Date, 13 December 1989.
HIS HONOUR: 13 December 1989. CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes, sir. HIS HONOUR:
And is the decision of the court in one of the exhibits here?
CITIZEN LIMBO:· Yes, sir. That is exhibit A. It is a
70-page decision.
HIS HONOUR: It does not seem to be marked but this is the reasons for judgment.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes, sir.
HIS HONOUR: Now, this says on the front of it, "delivered 27 November 1989".
CITIZEN LIMBO: That is correct. HIS HONOUR: Is that the correct date?
CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes. I mentioned that to you when I was
before you last, sir. I said that I had just got judgment in a matter which had been handed
to me that morning about the operation of -
I think it was at the point where you told me I had totally misconceived what the Nuremburg principles were about and I said that I had
just received a judgment issued the day before
C3T9/l /SH 10 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2) in Darwin. Essentially what this is about,
sir, it is a number of preliminary applications
prior to a retrial for trespass.
The history of the matter is that I was,
along with 200 other people, arrested and charged
with trespass at Pine Gap in October 1987.
HIS HONOUR: Yes. CITIZEN LIMBO: In March 1988 I was tried upon that charge by magistrate Barritt and found guilty without
being allowed to call any evidence and without
my subpoenaes to Pine Gap personnel being allowed
to stand.
(Continued on page 12)
C3T9/2/SH 1 1 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 · Limbo(2)
CITIZEN LIMBO (continuing): On appeal before Sir William Kearney, he found that was a complete breach of due process
and that the defendant's fundamental right to call
evidence and present his case had not been allowed. I then took out a variety of preliminary applications to protect my position on a retrial, seeking to subpoena various people, seeking to have the idea
of a public court protected by radio and televisionbroadcasts and various applications to do witb a poor
person's status. These matters then made their waythrough various magistrates and supreme court judges to the Full Court in the course of which Justice Nader said that he would resign if I could prove that there were people in high government office committing
crimes or war crimes to put it generally.This matter came before the Full Court, went
for five days; I was opposed by a QC, an instructing
solicitor and a team of supporting staff and the
judgment basically denied all my applications.
One of my basic appeal points is that Justice Martin
ought to have disqualified himself for bias because he
had acted for Pine Gap, having intimately been
involved with them for years, and under the American
Bar Association Judicial Code of Ethics, which I cite
in my appeal documents, he ought to have disqualified
himself.
HIS HONOUR: When did you seek to lodge a notice of appeal - application for special leave to appeal?
CITIZEN LIMBO: I sought to lodge it, sir, on Wednesday, 13 December 1989, which is well within the 21 day
period.
HIS HONOUR: I see, yes. CITIZEN LIMBO: And, at the same time, I also served the respondent, Officer Little, by arranging for an
officer of the Australian Protective Services to
attend at the Alice Springs Public Interest Advocacy Centre to collect the documents, so that
all the documents that you have before you, sir, were
received by, as it were, the Attorney-General or,
certainly, Officer Little on or about - in fact, to
be precise, it was Thursday, 14 December.
HIS HONOUR: Yes. Now, you have chosen to make this application ex parte.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Well, I debate with you what "choice" means
in this matter but certainly I am here ex parte at
the moment. There is a gentleman, a person, from
the Australian Government Solicitor's office herewho has informed me that he was notified yesterday
afternoon from Darwin that this matter was happening
and I have handed him a sealed copy of the second
summons which is the bald summons simply seeking an
extension of time and a waiver of fees.
C3Tl0/l/JH 12 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo ( 2) HIS HONOUR: Well, it is the question of the extensio~ of
time that I am concerned about. You see, if the successful party in the court below has
not received, in accordance with the rules ofCourt, the notice of the application for
special leave to appeal, that party whether
it be the Crown or anybody else has a right
to understand that that decision is final.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Certainly. HIS HONOUR: Until that person's expectation is disappointed
by an extension of time for the lodging of an
application for special leave to appeal, it
is inappropriate to take that right away from
them without giving them some notice.
Now, in those circumstances, it seems to
me to be inappropriate to make an order on your
application for an extension of time withouthearing the party which may be opposed to it
which may, for all I know, wish to oppose the
application or wish to consent to it.
Now, in those circumstances, unless you
can convince me to the contrary, I would not
make an order on an ex parte application
extending the time.
CITIZEN LIMBO: Yes, sir. Well, I say there are
circumstances, Your Honour, in this matter
why it is fair and reasonable that that should occur.
Would you like to hear me on that?
HIS HONOUR: Yes. CITIZEN LIMBO: Right. The first point is that, as I say,
the respondents to this appeal received all
the documents before you, namely, the ex parte
summons for waiver of fees and other matters,
the affidavit supporting that, the draft notice
of appeal, on 14 December 1989, well within the 21-day period.
The Attorney-General who is, in fact, the
respondent's representative I maintain in this
matter is aware that I am also running this
may well wish to hear, I suppose, why they
case in several different ways, through the
would oppose on a technicality, this application
but I say that they have had notice within the
required time and that there has been no doubt
in their minds about my intention to pursue
that and that the only hiccup in this matter
has been the problem with getting these documents
lodged.
C3T10/2/SH 13 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2) CITIZEN LIMBO (continuing): That may be a problem with
the rules but given, sir, the letter that I wrote
to the Registrar accompanying these documents
dated Wednesday, 13 December 1989, and embraced
in its entirety at paragraph 21 of my affidavit
in which I envoked the Nuremberg principles and
sought assistance and postulated that
Registrar Jones was disqualified from dealing
in any way with the matter because of his previousconnnents and dealings in this matter and noted that,
given all the circumstances presently known to me
and given facts which I reasonably suspect from
these circumstances, especially as they are set out
in paragraph 2.6(r) of the notice to do with,
shall we call, secret intelligence, dirty tricks,
and given that as a poor person I intended to
reside in Melbourne next year, I did not think it
would be appropriate to lodge these documents at
the Northern Territory Registry. So given that that was an accompanying letter which was sent
at the same time as these documents and which was
also part of the documents which were served on the
respondents, they would be quite well aware of myattempts to lodge in Canberra before lodging in
Darwin.
There are several other matters which I would
like to be heard on. You may say I am making a speech. I am just trying to demonstrate to Your Honour that
there is now a nest of litigation in this matter
in which I as, basically, a solo practitioner or
legally trained person or citizen, am opposing the
entire staff of the Attorney-General's office which
is basically either a private army of lawyers orcertainly the largest law firm in the country.
The most recent one of which, sir, is an application
by the - - -
HIS HONOUR: Citizen Limbo, I do not propose to go into other
matters. There are two specific questions that arise
here. One is the question of dispensing with the fees.That is something which it is, perhaps, not essential to hear the respondent on. The question of extension of time seems to me to be a matter on which I must hear the respondent before I could consider the order that would be made.
C3Tll/l/LW 14 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
HIS HONOUR (continuing): Now, in those circumstances, I would propose to adjourn the application to give
you an opportunity, if you wish to take it, toserve the papers upon which you intend to rely
that have been filed in this Court on the respondent,
together with a copy of an order which I would maketoday, adjourning the matter to a date which is
convenient on which the matter can be listed again.Now, what have you to say about that proposed order?
CITIZEN LIMBO: I can see that it is perfectly expected and sensible and not at all out of - in fact it is
quite proper for you to say what you have said. I
also feel that you do not wish to take an interest
in the problems that I am raising to you about the
presentation of this case and the fact that I have
been working on these matters for 12 months and am completely physically and emotionally exhausted in battling a system in which I have to appeal and
oppose every decision that is made by either the
Attorney-General or the administrative arm, sir, - you
are not listening so it does not matter. Basically,
sir, what am I to live on? How am I to get back to Canberra? Why am I not being paid to be here? I
mean, you do not want to here this stuff, but how
am I in fact, you know, to live for the next week?What am I meant to do,sir? I am talking about the
Nuremburg principles. I am talking about crimes against peace and humanity. If this was a Nazi court
and I came and said people are being exterminated, you
would either have to act or you would be, you know,
party to the proceedings. You are a judicial officer, sir, and I am telling you that I am extremely poor -
and exhausted by this. I expect some judicial support for what I am doing. That is not unreasonable. This is not Nazi Germany. This is Australia in 1990. You
do not wish to hear these matters, but I say who will listen? The Attorney-General will not listen and he
is protected by a wall of bureaucracy,- well, look atthe clock then,sir, which I cannot prevail against.
The Human Rights Commission has no funding. The
Ombudsman will not assist. The Law Societies will not assist. I mean you are, in a sense, in a position to, by the comments you could make from this bench, to
have me immediately provided with legal aid so that I have QCs presenting this case, and not myself, so that I am actually able to take a break from this matter. If you agree with me that my legal duty is in fact, as a legally trained person aware of these issues,
to try and prevent serious crimes against peace and
humanity, which includes crimes against the law of
Australia, like attempted murder and terrorism, if you think that is a duty that this Court should, you know,
at least take seriously and indeed encourage thefulfillment of, then I need some help. And I understand
what Your Honour is saying about needing to adjourn the
C3Tl2/l/CM 15 CITIZEN LIMBO 4 / 4/9'0 Limbo(2) matter, but how much longer do I have to go on
in this way trying to set up public interest
advocacy centres to catch these cases that fall
between the cracks, when in fact this is a question
of your judicial powers. Your Honour has the inherant power - - -
HIS HONOUR: Citizen Limbo, you have made a speech now. You have emphasized the point that you are a legally
qualified person. In those circumstances it is
not too much to expect that you will understand that
your submissions to the Court must be directed to
do not propose to respond to what you have said, except the exercise of judicial power. That being so, I to ask you to what date, if any, would you find it convenient for this matter to be adjourned?
CITIZEN LIMBO: Will the Court sit in Melbourne.sir? Will I be able to do it by video link?
HIS HONOUR: No. CITIZEN LIMBO: Will I have to physically hitch-hike back up here again?
HIS HONOUR: It is a matter for you to decide what you wish to do, Mr Limbo. This is where the Court sits. Is
there any day you wish to suggest, Citizen Limbo?
1 propose to adjourn these applications, that is all Well, in the absense of any suggestion from you I
matters which have been raised by Citizen Limbo in his submissions here this morning, until 9.15am on · Wednesday, 11 April 1990. The Court will adjourn.
CITIZEN LIMBO:
Sir, if you made it something like eight weeks I could prcbably be able to sort .of like have a
rest and come back here and do it. I am afraid I just cann9t maintain this pace and if Your Honour refuses to hear what I am really saying to you, you know, I cannot take it any further. I mean, Your Honour says, as a legal practitioner, I am
making submissions to you on your judicial power and
you cannot hear what I am saying. But I say I am making submissions to you on judicial power and of course you can get up and waik out.
(Continued on page 17)
C3Tl2/ 2/CM 16 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2) HIS HONOUR: Citizen Limbo, I do not propose to be provoked.
CITIZEN LIMBO: I am not provoking you. I am making submissions in a Court to you as a Justice.
HIS HONOUR:
I invited you to make a submission as to the date. You maintained silence. If you maintain
silence then you cannot - - - CITIZEN LIMBO: Sir, could I make a submission that it be
eight weeks from now. I cannot possibly - I mean I have just got - look at all the stuff I have
got to do. I have got legal aid applications - I mean it is just - - -
HIS HONOUR: Well, then, it can be adjourned for eight weeks
from now but you would understand that if the
matter is adjourned for that length of time, thelength of time of the adjournment must be very
relevant to the application for the extension of
time in which to file the notice of application for
special leave to appeal. I mean, if you are conscious of the consequences of so long a delay
on the merits of your application, then I shall
accede to it and adjourn it for eight weeks. It is a matter for you, as the litigant, to choose which course: you may have either an adjournment
for a week in the way in which I proposed, or you
can have an adjournment for eight weeks as you have
sought with the consequence, however, which I havepointed out to you. Now, which do you wish?
CITIZEN LIMBO: It is not just a matter for me, sir, it is a
matter for you as well. It is not just my responsibility, this Nuremburg thing, this crimes
against peace and humanity, it is your responsibility
too.
HIS HONOUR: Citizen Limbo, I do not propose to debate with
you -
CITIZEN LIMBO: Eight weeks,
that, you know, the reasons I have •.•.. out I choose, sir, and I say to you, I have a nest of documents which will not
appear in the transcript which I need to follow up
on legal aid applications and appealing,refusals
of legal aid and all that sort of stuff and I think
if I appear legally represented - - -
HIS HONOUR: Very well then, the present application will
stand adjourned until 9.15 am on 30 May.
CITIZEN LIMBO:
Thank you, and Your Honour would have had a chance to read the documents by then.
C3T13/l/DR 17 CITIZEN LIMBO 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
HIS HONOUR: I propose to adjourn this application until 9.15 am on 30 May and I will give you leave,
Citizen Limbo, to serve these documents, together
with any other documents that you may wish to
serve on the respondent in the mean time but
service is to be effected not less than 14 daysbefore 30 May and the matter will stand adjourned
until that time.
AT 9.55 AM THE MATTER WAS ADJOURNED
UNTIL 9.15 AM ON WEDNESDAY, 30 MAY 1990
C3Tl3/2/DR 18 4/4/90 Limbo(2)
Key Legal Topics
Areas of Law
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Civil Procedure
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Administrative Law
Legal Concepts
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Costs
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Jurisdiction
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Procedural Fairness
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Standing
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Judicial Review
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