Freedom Pharmaceutical Pty Ltd v Minister for Health

Freedom Pharmaceutical Pty Ltd filed an originating application in the Federal Court seeking judicial review of a decision made by the Minister for Health under section 90A(2) of the National Health Act 1953 (Cth). The Minister had approved a pharmacist's application to supply pharmaceutical benefits at particular premises after the Secretary had previously rejected the application. Freedom contended that the Minister's decision was legally unreasonable, that the Minister had failed to observe procedures required by law, and that there were errors of law in the Minister's interpretation of certain terms and consideration of the public interest. The court had to determine whether the Minister's decision was legally unreasonable, whether there was a procedural error, and whether there was an error of law in the statutory interpretation or public interest consideration.

The court found that the Minister's decision was not legally unreasonable and that there was no procedural error. The court held that the statutory discretion conferred by section 90A of the Act is to be ascertained by reference to the scope and purpose of the statutory enactment. The court found that the Minister's decision was within the range of possible lawful outcomes and that the Minister had not made a jurisdictional error. The court also found that there was no error of law in the Minister's interpretation of the terms "community" and "reasonable access" and in the consideration of the public interest. The court held that the Minister's decision was based on a rational and intelligible reasoning process that was directed towards and related intelligibly to the purposes of the power.

The court dismissed the application and ordered that the applicant file and serve any submissions, limited to 5 pages, as to why the applicant should not be ordered to pay the Minister’s costs of the application. The Minister was also ordered to file and serve any submissions in reply, limited to 5 pages, to the applicant’s submissions. The question of costs was to be determined on the papers unless otherwise directed. The time for filing any notice of appeal was extended until 4.00pm on 7 May 2021.