Griffiths v Rose

In the case of Griffiths v Rose, the applicant, Mr Griffiths, sought to challenge the decision of Mr Pettifer to terminate his employment. The dispute arose from an alleged breach of the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct due to Mr Griffiths' unauthorised use of computer equipment. The crux of the matter was whether certain prohibitions on the use of computer equipment were contrary to the right to privacy under the Privacy Act 1988 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The case was heard in the Federal Court of Australia.

The legal issues before the court involved the interpretation of the Public Service Act 1999, specifically the scope of the considerations that a decision-maker must take into account when determining an appropriate sanction. Mr Griffiths argued that Mr Pettifer should have taken into account his early and frank admission of accessing inappropriate material. The court examined whether the statute impliedly required the decision-maker to consider such admissions and found no such implication. Additionally, the court considered whether the decision was so unreasonable that no reasonable decision-maker could have made it, a threshold that the court found was not met in this case.

The court's reasoning was that the considerations to be taken into account by the decision-maker are determined by the statute conferring the discretion, and where these considerations are not expressly stated, they must be implied from the subject matter, scope, and purpose of the Act. The court concluded that the statute did not imply that the decision-maker should consider Mr Griffiths' initial admission. The court also held that the decision was not so unreasonable that no reasonable decision-maker could have arrived at it. The implied limitations on Parliament’s remit were not transcended, and thus, the decision was not subject to judicial review.

The final orders of the court were to dismiss the application and for the applicant to pay the second respondent’s costs.