McGuirk v Vice-Chancellor, University of New South Wales

McGuirk v Vice-Chancellor, University of New South Wales was a case before the Federal Court of Australia involving a dispute between a former student and the university's vice-chancellor. The student, Mr. McGuirk, had brought an appeal against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) that had dismissed his challenge to his expulsion from the University. The appeal centred around the admissibility of evidence and the characterisation of meetings held in the course of the AAT proceedings.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether a "planning meeting" between the AAT delegate and the representative of the University was improperly characterised as a "preliminary conference" under section 74 of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth). The court was required to consider the distinction between planning meetings, preliminary conferences, and directions hearings, and whether the characterisation of the meeting impacted on the fairness of the proceedings. Additionally, the court had to determine whether the Tribunal's handling of the meeting amounted to a breach of the principles of natural justice or procedural fairness.

The court held that the characterisation of the meeting as a preliminary conference was appropriate and did not result in any unfairness to the appellant. It was determined that the meeting in question was not a formal part of the review process and did not involve any decision-making. The court found that the Tribunal's handling of the meeting did not breach the principles of natural justice or procedural fairness. The appeal was dismissed and the parties were directed to file and serve any submissions on the issue of costs by a specified date.