Quinn v Regional Council of Goyder

The appeal concerned a decision of the Environment, Resources and Development Court. The appellant sought to introduce further evidence on appeal, and the parties had consented to this. The central question before the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia was whether, on the basis of this consent, the Court should allow the appeal and remit the matter back to the Environment, Resources and Development Court for further consideration.

The legal issues before the Full Court were twofold. Firstly, whether the Court had the power to admit fresh evidence on appeal, and secondly, whether, having admitted such evidence by consent, it should exercise its discretion to allow the appeal and remit the matter for further consideration by the primary court.

The Court reasoned that while the parties had consented to the admission of fresh evidence, this did not automatically bind the Court to allow the appeal and remit the matter. The Court retained a discretion to determine whether it was in the interests of justice to do so. The Court considered the nature of the fresh evidence and its potential impact on the original decision. It applied principles relating to the admission of fresh evidence on appeal, which generally require that the evidence could not have been obtained with reasonable diligence for use at the trial and that the evidence is credible and likely to have had a material effect on the result of the trial.

The Court allowed the appeal and remitted the matter to the Environment, Resources and Development Court for further consideration in light of the admitted fresh evidence.