G v C

G, the appellant, appealed against a decision of a Magistrate who dismissed his application to vary or revoke a final intervention order made against him. The protected person in the final order was C, the respondent. G appealed to the Supreme Court of South Australia. The appeal concerned the legal issues of whether the Magistrate was clearly wrong in his exercise of discretion in dismissing G's application and whether the Court should grant an extension of time to file the notice of appeal. The Court found that the Magistrate misdirected himself concerning the nature of the discretion to vary or revoke the final order and that other grounds of appeal were established. The appeal was allowed, and the final order was varied to remove the prohibition on G being within 50 metres of C and to allow G to enter or remain within 50 metres of the boundary of the place of residence or place of employment of C. The Court also granted an extension of time to file the notice of appeal.

The court's reasoning was based on a number of provisions of the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 (SA), including the power to create intervention orders in ss 18 and 20, the permissible content (what "an intervention may do") in s 12, the meaning and nature of "abuse" delineated in s 8, and the duration of an intervention order in s 11. The court also considered s 26(5)(b) and s 6 of the Act, which required the court to have regard to the same matters that the court is required to have regard to in considering whether or not to make an intervention order and in considering the terms of an intervention order. The court found that the Magistrate misdirected himself concerning the nature of the discretion to vary or revoke the final order and that other grounds of appeal were established. The appeal was allowed, and the final order was varied to remove the prohibition on G being within 50 metres of C and to allow G to enter or remain within 50 metres of the boundary of the place of residence or place of employment of C. The Court also granted an extension of time to file the notice of appeal.