Plaintiff M112/2010 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2011] HCATrans 73

[2011] HCATrans 73

[2011] HCATrans 073

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Office of the Registry
  Melbourne  No M112 of 2010

B e t w e e n -

PLAINTIFF M112/2010

Plaintiff

and

MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP

Defendant

Summons

HAYNE J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT MELBOURNE ON THURSDAY, 24 MARCH 2011, AT 9.31 AM

Copyright in the High Court of Australia

PLAINTIFF M112/2010 appeared in person.

MR R.C. KNOWLES:   If it please your Honour, I appear for the defendant.  (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor)

HIS HONOUR:   Yes.  Mr Knowles, you filed some submissions indicating that in the particular circumstances of the case the Minister would not oppose the Court ordering that the hearing of the matter be adjourned to a date to be fixed to enable the plaintiff to get legal representation.

MR KNOWLES:   Yes, your Honour, that is correct.

HIS HONOUR:   May I ask you, Mr Knowles, have you had any conversation with the plaintiff about that or how that might be done?

MR KNOWLES:   Your Honour, I personally have not had a conversation with the plaintiff about that and in relation to correspondence between my instructor and the plaintiff, I understand that at the outset of the proceeding there was correspondence sent to him in which certain options were outlined for him to potentially pursue in respect of obtaining legal assistance if he wished to do so.

HIS HONOUR:   Yes.  If I were to suggest that his first port of call should be Victoria Legal Aid, is that appropriate or is there some other first port of call that I should suggest?  If the question is one that you feel you should not answer, do not feel obliged to answer it by any means, Mr Knowles.  If you can answer it, it may help me.

MR KNOWLES:   Yes.  I do not know that the Minister has any particular personal view about that, but what I can say, having regard to the correspondence that I mentioned a moment ago, of the options that were presented to the plaintiff the first one was in fact Victoria Legal Aid.  So if that is any indication, your Honour, there would certainly be no objection to that.

HIS HONOUR:   Thank you for that assistance.  Perhaps if I can say something to you, Mr Plaintiff.  Firstly, forgive me if I adopt this curious way of addressing you.  I would much prefer to be able to address you by your proper name, but the Act, I am afraid, tells me that I may not, so forgive me for what must seem intolerable rudeness.

PLAINTIFF M112/2010:   That is okay.

HIS HONOUR:   If you are to continue your application in this Court, there would be great advantage to you if you could consult lawyers.

PLAINTIFF M112/2010:   Yes, okay.

HIS HONOUR:   Whether there is anything that they can do for you, I simply do not know, but there would be great advantage if you could talk to lawyers.  All I would suggest to you is that you should speak to Victoria Legal Aid, and the solicitor instructing Mr Knowles will be able to give you an address if you do not already have that.  I do not know whether Victoria Legal Aid can help you or will help you, but they may be able, if they cannot, to give you a name of someone or an organisation that might be able to help you.  Do you understand what I am saying?

PLAINTIFF M112/2010:   Yes, I do.

HIS HONOUR:   What I would do then is adjourn your application.  I would not fix a date yet for it to come back.  What I would say to you and to the Minister is that they or you can have it re‑listed on giving the opposite party a week’s notice so that they can say, “Look, this has gone on too long.  We want to bring it all to a head.  Come back to Court.”  It will be necessary if you are going to do this to do it quickly.  These proceedings cannot last in this Court forever. 

What I will do is I will adjourn the proceedings in this matter out of the list to a date to be fixed.  Either party may restore the matter to the list on not less than seven days notice in writing to the other side.  If I reserve the costs of today, Mr Knowles, would that be appropriate?

MR KNOWLES:   Yes, it would, your Honour.

HIS HONOUR:   Yes, the costs are reserved.  Do you understand what I have done?

PLAINTIFF M112/2010:   Yes, I do.

HIS HONOUR:   Good.  Thank you very much for coming this morning.

PLAINTIFF M112/2010:   Thank you very much.

AT 9.35 AM THE MATTER WAS ADJOURNED