Commonwealth v Hobbins

The Commonwealth of Australia appealed to the High Court of Australia against a decision of the Full Federal Court which had quashed a conviction of Mr Hobbins for offences under the *Crimes Act 1914* (Cth). The dispute concerned the admissibility of evidence obtained by the Australian Federal Police during an investigation.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the evidence, which included documents and a confession, had been obtained unlawfully, thereby rendering it inadmissible under section 138 of the *Evidence Act 1995* (Cth). This section requires a court to exclude evidence if it would be unfair to the accused to adduce it, having regard to the circumstances in which the evidence was obtained, including any contravention of an Australian law.

McHugh and Heydon JJ found that the evidence had not been obtained unlawfully. Their Honours reasoned that the police officers had acted within their powers when they obtained the evidence, and that the circumstances did not give rise to any unfairness to Mr Hobbins. The Court therefore held that the evidence was admissible and that the Full Federal Court had erred in quashing the conviction.

The High Court allowed the appeal, set aside the order of the Full Federal Court, and remitted the matter to the Federal Court for determination according to law.