Malifa v Georges River Council

The Court of Appeal of New South Wales, constituted by McCallum JA and Emmett AJA, considered an application for leave to appeal from consent orders. The applicant sought to appeal orders that had been made by consent between the parties.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the applicant had established sufficient grounds to warrant the granting of leave to appeal from consent orders. The Court was required to determine the circumstances under which an appeal from consent orders would be permitted, and whether those circumstances were present in this instance.

The Court reasoned that leave to appeal from consent orders is generally not granted unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as a demonstrable error in the recording of the consent or evidence that the consent was not freely or properly given. In this case, the applicant failed to demonstrate any such exceptional circumstances. Accordingly, the Court concluded that there was no basis upon which to grant leave to appeal.

The Court ordered that leave to appeal be refused and that the applicant pay the respondent’s costs of the application.