GAR v Attorney General for the State of New South Wales (No. 3)

The applicant, GAR, sought an inquiry into his conviction. The respondent was the Attorney General for the State of New South Wales. The matter came before the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issue was whether the primary judge had committed jurisdictional error by refusing to consider or otherwise deal further with GAR's application for an inquiry into his conviction, pursuant to s 79(3)(a) of the *Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001* (NSW). This also involved determining whether the material presented in the current application had been considered in previous applications for an inquiry, and the nature of the discretion vested in the court under s 79(3) of the Act.

The Court of Appeal found that the material presented by GAR had been considered in previous applications. The court held that the discretion under s 79(3) of the *Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001* was not enlivened by the presentation of material that had already been considered. Consequently, the primary judge had not fallen into jurisdictional error by refusing to proceed further with the application.

The Court of Appeal ordered that the summons be dismissed and that the applicant pay the respondent’s costs.