Hastwell, In the matter of an application for leave to issue or file

This matter concerned an application for leave to issue or file an application for judicial review of a decision made by the respondent, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The applicant, Hastwell, sought to challenge ASIC's refusal to grant him leave to commence proceedings against a company under section 1317G of the *Corporations Act 2001* (Cth).

The central legal issue before Gageler J was whether the applicant had demonstrated a sufficient prospect of success in the proposed substantive proceedings to warrant the grant of leave to proceed with the judicial review. This required an assessment of whether ASIC's decision to refuse leave under section 1317G was affected by an error of law.

Gageler J considered the principles governing the grant of leave under section 1317G, which requires the applicant to show a *prima facie* case that the company has contravened certain provisions of the *Corporations Act* and that the contravention has caused, or is likely to cause, material prejudice to the company or its members. His Honour found that the applicant had not established a sufficient prospect of success in demonstrating that the company had contravened the relevant provisions, nor that material prejudice had been caused. Consequently, leave to file the application for judicial review was refused.