JE v Secretary, Department of Family and Community Services

The proceedings concerned an appeal to the Court of Appeal from decisions of the District Court concerning the applicant, JE, and the Secretary of the Department of Family and Community Services. The central dispute involved whether the District Court had erred in striking out JE's statement of claim. It was common ground between the parties that JE had not been accorded procedural fairness in the proceedings before the Children's Court.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether the District Court had made an error of law on the face of the record or a jurisdictional error when it struck out JE's statement of claim. Further, the Court considered whether, notwithstanding the denial of procedural fairness, there were discretionary grounds to refuse relief, and whether the proceedings should be remitted to the District Court. Separate applications related to leave to appeal and extensions of time to seek such leave, arising from the District Court's earlier decision to strike out the statement of claim for disclosing no reasonable cause of action.

The Court of Appeal found that the notice of appeal and a summons seeking leave to appeal filed on 17 September 2018 were incompetent. However, the Court varied an order made by Judge Olsson on 22 August 2018, to specifically include JE's appeal pursuant to s 91 of the *Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998* (NSW) against orders made by the Children's Court on 12 April 2018 relating to the child, Michelle. The proceedings were remitted to the District Court for determination of this s 91 appeal. The Court also refused an application for an extension of time to seek leave to appeal and dismissed a subsequent summons seeking leave to appeal. The Secretary was ordered to pay the costs of JE and the costs of Michelle, Dora, and SE and YE in the Court of Appeal.