P1 v Australian Crime Commission

The application was made by the Australian Crime Commission and Mr Boulton for an order for the transfer of the proceeding issued in the Supreme Court of South Australia to the Federal Court of Australia. The defendants contended that the proceeding was a special federal matter pursuant to section 3(1)(c) and 3(1)(e) of the Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-Vesting) Act. The court was required to determine whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to hear the matter and, if so, whether the proceeding was a special federal matter and whether there were special reasons for the matter to be heard by the Supreme Court. The court held that the Supreme Court was invested with federal jurisdiction pursuant to section 39(2) of the Judiciary Act. The proceeding was not a special federal matter, and there were special reasons for the matter to be heard by the Supreme Court. Section 9 of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act did not remove the jurisdiction that the Supreme Court had to determine the claims. The application to transfer the proceeding to the Federal Court of Australia was dismissed.

[10] Section 77 of the Commonwealth Constitution provides:With respect to any of the matters mentioned in the last two sections the Parliament may make laws:(i)defining the jurisdiction of any federal court other than the High Court;(ii)defining the extent to which the jurisdiction of any federal court shall be exclusive of that which belongs to or is invested in the courts of the States;(iii)investing any court of a State with federal jurisdiction.