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High Court Bulletin

Produced by the Legal Research Officer,
High Court of Australia Library

[2013] HCAB 10 (6 January 2014)

A record of recent High Court of Australia cases: decided, reserved for judgment, awaiting hearing in the Court’s original jurisdiction, granted special leave to appeal, refused special leave to appeal and not proceeding or vacated

1: Cases Handed Down
2: Cases Reserved
3: Original Jurisdiction
4: Special Leave Granted
5: Cases Not Proceeding or Vacated
6: Special Leave Refused

Summary of New Entries

1: Cases Handed Down

Case	Title
Kline v Official Secretary to the Governor General & Anor	Administrative Law
Commonwealth v The Australian Capital Territory	Constitutional Law
Unions NSW and Ors v State of New South Wales	Constitutional Law
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v TPG Internet Pty Ltd	Consumer Law
Clark v Macourt	Contract Law
Willmott Growers Group Inc v Willmott Forests Ltd (Receivers and Managers Appointed) (In Liquidation) & Ors	Corporations Law
BCM v The Queen	Criminal Law
Reeves v The Queen	Criminal Law
Li v Chief of Army	Defence
Honourable Brendan O’Connor, Commonwealth Minister for Home Affairs and Justice v Adamas & Anor	Extradition
Apotex Pty Ltd v Sanofi-Aventis Australia Pty Ltd & Ors	Intellectual Property
Plaintiff M76/2013 v Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship and Ors	Migration

2: Cases Reserved

Case	Title
Woodside Energy Ltd & Ors v Electricity Generation Corporation t/as Verve Energy; Electricity Generation Corporation t/as Verve Energy v Woodside Energy Ltd & Ors	Contract Law
Zirilli; & Barbaro v The Queen	Criminal Law
Smith v The State of Western Australia	Criminal Law

3: Original Jurisdiction

Case	Title
There are no new matters ready for hearing in the original jurisdiction of the High Court of Australia.

4: Special Leave Granted

Case	Title
Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker	Contract Law
Lee & Anor v The Queen	Criminal Law
Sidhu v van Dyke	Equity

1: Cases Handed Down

The following cases were handed down by the High Court of Australia during the November-December 2013 sittings.

Administrative Law

See also Migration: Plaintiff M76/2013 v Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship and Ors

Kline v Official Secretary to the Governor General & Anor

B47/2013: [2013] HCA 52.

Judgment delivered: 6 December 2013.

Coram: French CJ, Crennan, Kiefel, Bell and Gageler JJ.

Catchwords:

Administrative law − Freedom of information − Request for access to documents − Section 6A(1) of Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) provided that documents held by Official Secretary to the Governor-General were excluded from disclosure unless they related to "matters of an administrative nature" − Whether documents relating to nomination of person to Order of Australia were excluded from disclosure by operation of s 6A(1).

Words and phrases − "matters of an administrative nature".

Appealed from FCA (FC): [2012] FCAFC 184; (2012) 127 ALD 639; (2012) AATA 247.

Held: Appeal dismissed.

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Constitutional Law

Commonwealth v The Australian Capital Territory

C13/2013: [2013] HCA 55.

Judgment delivered: 12 December 2013.

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2013] HCAB 10
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The case of Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v TPG Internet Pty Ltd involved an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission against TPG Internet Pty Ltd regarding whether TPG's advertisements breached the Trade Practices Act 1974 and Australian Consumer Law. The primary issues were whether the "dominant message" approach was correct and whether consumers had to consider the whole advertisement to correct misleading headline representations. The Court held that the appeal should be allowed, finding that the Full Court of the Federal Court failed to adequately consider specific and general deterrence in reducing the pecuniary penalty. The Court also found that the reduced penalty was manifestly inadequate and that the primary judge correctly assessed the number and classes of contraventions.

The Court found that TPG's advertisements were misleading and deceptive under the Trade Practices Act 1974 and Australian Consumer Law. The Court held that the "dominant message" approach was incorrect, and that consumers must consider the whole advertisement to correct misleading headline representations. The Court also found that the Full Court of the Federal Court failed to adequately consider specific and general deterrence in reducing the pecuniary penalty. The Court held that the reduced penalty was manifestly inadequate and that the primary judge correctly assessed the number and classes of contraventions.

In summary, the Court held that TPG's advertisements were misleading and deceptive and that the Full Court of the Federal Court failed to adequately consider specific and general deterrence in reducing the pecuniary penalty. The Court found that the reduced penalty was manifestly inadequate and that the primary judge correctly assessed the number and classes of contraventions. The appeal was allowed, and the case was remitted to the Full Court of the Federal Court for reconsideration of the pecuniary penalty.

Orders