Seek Justice Pty Ltd v Minister for Planning

Seek Justice Pty Ltd (the applicant) sought an order for the expedition of its application for leave to appeal and its substantive appeal against a decision of the Minister for Planning (the respondent). The matter came before Kirk JA in the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether it was in the interests of justice to grant the high degree of expedition sought by the applicant for its leave application and appeal. This involved considering the applicant's arguments for urgency against the general principles governing the expedition of court proceedings.

Kirk JA considered the principles applicable to applications for expedition, which require a strong case to be made out demonstrating that the interests of justice demand it. His Honour concluded that the applicant had not established a sufficient basis to warrant the significant expedition requested. Consequently, the application was dismissed.

The Court ordered that the costs of the dismissed application for expedition, as well as the costs of a withdrawn application for a stay, were to be costs in the cause, meaning they would be determined at the final resolution of the substantive appeal.