RH v Secretary, Department of Communities and Justice

The applicant, RH, sought a stay of proceedings in the Children's Court pending the determination of a summons seeking leave to appeal from the summary dismissal of proceedings in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court proceedings invoked the *parens patriae* jurisdiction. The matter came before McCallum JA.

The central legal issue before the Court was the test to be applied when considering an application for a stay of proceedings in the Children's Court, where the applicant sought to invoke the Supreme Court's *parens patriae* jurisdiction. This involved determining whether the inherent power of the Supreme Court to stay proceedings was engaged and, if so, on what basis.

McCallum JA considered the principles governing the exercise of the Supreme Court's inherent power to stay proceedings. The Court noted that such power is to be exercised with caution and only in exceptional circumstances. The applicant's argument that the *parens patriae* jurisdiction should operate to stay the Children's Court proceedings was not accepted as meeting the threshold for intervention. The Court found that the applicant had not demonstrated a sufficient basis to warrant the exercise of its inherent power to grant a stay.

Consequently, the applicant’s notice of motion was dismissed.