McKenzie and Comcare (Compensation)

The applicant, McKenzie, objected to the issue of a summons and the respondent, Comcare, inspecting material produced under that summons. The dispute concerned the relevance of the material sought by Comcare to the issues raised by the reviewable decision, and the applicant's privacy. The matter came before the Hon. John Pascoe AC CVO, Deputy President.

The primary legal issue before the Deputy President was whether the material sought by Comcare under the summons was relevant to the determination of the reviewable decision. This involved considering the scope of Comcare's investigative powers and the applicant's right to privacy in relation to the production of documents.

The Deputy President reasoned that the material sought by Comcare was relevant to the issues raised by the reviewable decision. The Deputy President applied the principle that a party seeking production of documents under a summons must demonstrate their relevance to the proceedings. In this instance, the Deputy President found that Comcare had sufficiently demonstrated the relevance of the requested material, and that the applicant's objections on grounds of privacy were not sufficient to outweigh the need for the material to be produced for the proper determination of the reviewable decision.

The objections by the applicant were disallowed.