Cross v Justice Michael Lee, Federal Court of Australia & Ors

The applicant, Mr Cross, brought proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Justice Michael Lee and the Commonwealth of Australia. Mr Cross sought to challenge the validity of certain provisions of the *Broadcasting Services Act 1992* (Cth) and the *Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983* (Cth), alleging they were invalidly enacted. He also sought declarations that the Commonwealth had breached its constitutional obligations and that Justice Lee had acted outside his constitutional authority.

The central legal issue before Gageler J was whether the applicant had standing to bring the proceedings. Specifically, the Court was required to determine if Mr Cross had demonstrated a sufficient interest in the subject matter of the litigation to satisfy the requirements for standing in Australian constitutional law. This involved an examination of whether the alleged constitutional breaches gave rise to a sufficient personal interest beyond that of an ordinary citizen.

Gageler J applied the established principles regarding standing in public interest litigation, which require an applicant to demonstrate a "special interest" in the subject matter of the proceedings. His Honour found that the applicant had failed to establish that he possessed any interest in the validity of the impugned legislation or the alleged constitutional breaches that was distinct from the interest of the general public. Consequently, Mr Cross lacked the requisite standing to pursue his claims.

The application was dismissed for want of standing.