Kakura & Anor v The Queen

This matter came before the High Court of Australia on an application for special leave to appeal. The applicants, Hiroyuki Kakura and another, sought to challenge a decision concerning forfeiture provisions under the *Fisheries Act*. The Crown was the respondent. The dispute centred on whether the applicants' conduct constituted breaches of licence conditions that attracted forfeiture under section 13C of the Act.

The primary legal issue before the court was the proper construction of the forfeiture provisions in section 13C of the *Fisheries Act*, specifically subsection (1) and (2). This involved determining whether the offences of which the applicant Kakura was convicted, under section 13(1)(h) of the Act, were of a kind that attracted the court's power to order forfeiture. The applicants argued that the offences were not of the type contemplated by the forfeiture provisions, particularly in contrast to other offences under the Act.

The applicants' submission was that Kakura was convicted of offences under section 13(1)(h) for contravening licence conditions by failing to make required reports and failing to maintain a catch record. They contended that the radio messages sent were not reports in themselves, and that the licence conditions breached were not those requiring accurate statements, but rather the obligation to report and maintain records. The court was asked to consider whether these specific breaches, under section 13(1)(h), were sufficient to trigger the forfeiture provisions outlined in section 13C(1) and (2) of the Act.