Re Owen, Ronald Ex parte Deputy Commissioner of Taxation
[1996] FCA 160
•11 MARCH 1996
CATCHWORDS
BANKRUPTCY - application for adjournment of hearing of creditor's petition - basis for application unmeritorious
STATUTES - interpretation - Bankruptcy Act 1966 s44(1)(c) - "presentation"
WORDS AND PHRASES - "presentation" - creditor's petition
Currency Act 1965
Bankruptcy Act 1966 s44(1)(c)
Re Skyring (1994) 68 ALJR 618 Refd
Purdon Pty Ltd v The Registrar in Bankruptcy (unreported decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court, 15 July 1982) Refd
Re Ronald Owen Ex parte: Deputy Commissioner of Taxation
No QP 657 of 1995
Kiefel J Brisbane 11 March 1996
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
GENERAL DIVISION
BANKRUPTCY DISTRICT
OF THE STATE OF QUEENSLAND No. QP 657 of 1995
RE:RONALD OWEN
Debtor
EX PARTE:DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION
Creditor
JUDGE MAKING ORDER: Kiefel J.
DATE OF ORDER: 11 March 1996
WHERE MADE: Brisbane
MINUTES OF ORDERS
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
The application for adjournment be dismissed.
A sequestration order be made against the estate of the debtor.
The petitioning creditor's costs of and incidental to the petition in this matter, including reserved costs, be taxed and paid in accordance with the Bankruptcy Act 1966.
NOTE:Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 124 of the Bankruptcy Rules.
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
GENERAL DIVISION
BANKRUPTCY DISTRICT
OF THE STATE OF QUEENSLAND No. QP 657 of 1995
RE:RONALD OWEN
Debtor
EX PARTE:DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION
Creditor
CORAM: Kiefel J.
DATE: 11 March 1996
PLACE: Brisbane
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
The debtor Mr Owen seeks an adjournment of the hearing of the creditor's petition to an unspecified date and given his central submission, which is to the effect that to require payment by him in the manner specified would involve both he and the petitioning creditor in offences against the Currency Act 1965, what is in practical terms sought seems to me to be a stay of the proceedings. I shall in any event deal with it as an application for adjournment.
The matter has to date been the subject of hearing and appeal at every step and more litigation is hoped to be embarked upon by Mr Owen. The debt upon which the petition was founded was the subject of a judgment in the District Court of Queensland on 4 November 1994. It related to unpaid sales tax in the sum of $44,229.03. An appeal from that judgment was dismissed on 16 May 1995. On 23 June 1995, a bankruptcy notice was served and it required payment of that sum or that payment be secured to the satisfaction of the Court or the judgment creditor. That was not done. An application to set aside the notice was dismissed with costs on 14 August 1995, and an appeal from that decision was also dismissed on 7 November 1995.
Mr Owen has also sought to obtain a Writ of Prohibition from the High Court directed to certain Commonwealth Ministers and, following the Chief Justice's direction, the question whether that application will be entertained is to be the subject of an application for leave in June next. Mr Owen has also recently attempted to have summonses issue from this Court directed to officers of the Australian Government Solicitor and the Taxation Department, but inquiries reveal that the material filed by him has not been accepted by the Court. Mr Owen says that he will in any event attempt to cause those proceedings to issue out of the Magistrates' Court.
The purpose of the adjournment is said to be in part to have these matters heard and determined. They turn upon what has in the past been shortly described as the "currency argument". That argument was also raised by Mr Owen in the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland and in the Full Court of this Court in seeking to set
aside the bankruptcy notice on the basis that the Bankruptcy Act 1966, and a notice issued under it, cannot lawfully require him to pay what is circulated as currency. That might not answer why he cannot in any event secure the sum owed, but I have not heard argument upon this, and put it to one side.
In the reasons of the Full Court, the decisions of the High Court, which rejected this argument, originally advanced by Mr Skyring, were listed. The reasons why the argument could not succeed were given by the Full Court of the High Court in its unreported judgment on 9 July 1985. They were restated by Dawson J in Re Skyring(1994) 68 ALJR 618. Mr Owen's explanation as to why he and, as he advised me, Mr Skyring, are seeking to pursue the matter further is that they consider there has not been a final determination of the matter by any Court or one where the Court deals with the argument in a more fullsom way. There are however reasoned and binding decisions of the High Court on the matter. The argument is unmeritorious and an adjournment to permit further pursuit of it is entirely unwarranted.
The only other matter raised by Mr Owen was that, in his submission, the act of bankruptcy was not committed within six months before the presentation of the petition: see s44(1)(c) Bankruptcy Act 1966. That argument however rests upon "presentation" meaning service of the petition on him. But it does not. It refers to it being shown by the creditor to the appropriate court officer and being received by that court officer: see Purdon Pty Ltd v The Registrar in Bankruptcy (unreported decision of the Full Court, 15 July 1982).
The application for adjournment is dismissed. I am otherwise satisfied as to the matters necessary to the making of an order of sequestration.
I certify that this and the preceding three pages are a true copy of the reasons for judgment herein of the Honourable Justice Kiefel.
Associate
Date:11 March 1996
Applicant:In Person
Counsel for the respondent: Mr P Hack
Solicitors for the respondent: Australian Government Solicitor
Date of Hearing: 11 March 1996
Place of Hearing: Brisbane
Date of Judgment: 11 March 1996
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