Khosa v Legal Profession Complaints Committee

This appeal concerns the power of the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) to allow a party to the proceedings to uplift a document produced to the Tribunal by a third party for the purpose of forensic testing of that document. The appellant, Mr Khosa, appealed against orders made by the Tribunal which allowed the Legal Profession Complaints Committee (the Committee) to uplift a document produced to the Tribunal by a third party for the purpose of forensic testing of that document in the United States. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and held that the Tribunal had the power to order that the Committee have leave to uplift the document for the purpose of having the document forensically tested. The power was conferred by s 34(1) of the State Administrative Tribunal Act 2004 (WA) (SAT Act). Section 34(1) empowers the Tribunal to give directions at any time in a proceeding and do whatever is necessary for the speedy and fair conduct of the proceeding. The order allowing the Committee to uplift the document was a direction for the fair conduct of the proceeding, on the basis that the Tribunal in effect found that a fair hearing required the Committee to be given the opportunity to test the authenticity of the documentary evidence on which the appellant sought to rely. The Court of Appeal found that the Tribunal had not erred in law in concluding that the document did not contain protected matter. The Court of Appeal also found that there was no merit in the appellant's other grounds of appeal.