The Maritime Union of Australia & Anor v Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor

[2015] HCATrans 341

[2015] HCATrans 341

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Office of the Registry
  Sydney  No S136 of 2015

B e t w e e n -

THE MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA

First Plaintiff

AUSTRALIAN MARITIME OFFICERS’ UNION

Second Plaintiff

and

ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION

First Defendant

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Second Defendant

Directions Hearing

BELL J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

FROM SYDNEY BY VIDEO LINK TO MELBOURNE

ON MONDAY, 14 DECEMER 2015, AT 9.28 AM

Copyright in the High Court of Australia

____________________

MR B.K. LIM:   If it please the Court, I appear for the plaintiffs.  (instructed by Slater and Gordon Lawyers)

MR S.P. DONAGHUE, SC:   If it please the Court, I appear with MS A.M. MITCHELMORE, for the defendants.  (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor)

HER HONOUR:   Yes, Mr Lim.

MR LIM:   Your Honour, we are here because the winds have changed, so to speak.

HER HONOUR:   So I see.

MR LIM:   In that the Minister has revoked the impugned decisions and he has made a fresh determination.  Can I indicate at the outset that since written submissions for today’s directions were filed last week, the parties have an agreed form of proposed orders to take the matter forward?  In short, the plaintiffs do not press to maintain the February hearing date in light of the Minister’s submission that he requires time to adduce facts about the practical operation of the new determination.

HER HONOUR:   Yes.

MR LIM:   May I hand to your Honour the agreed form of orders?  I will also hand to your Honour with these proposed orders a copy of the orders made on the last occasion and also the proposed further amended application for an order to show cause.  That proposed application is in a slightly different form from that which was attached to our submissions of last week.

HER HONOUR:   Doing away with orders 1(a) and 8?

MR LIM:   That is correct, your Honour.

HER HONOUR:   Yes.  I will just take one moment, Mr Lim.  Yes, that all seems sensible.  There is a blank left for the proposed date for directions.  The draft of the agreed amended special case is to be filed on or before Monday, 15 February.  Is a date in that week suitable for further directions?

MR LIM:   For the plaintiff’s part, yes, your Honour.

HER HONOUR:   Mr Donaghue, is that a sensible ‑ ‑ ‑

MR DONAGHUE:   Yes, that would be desirable, your Honour.

HER HONOUR:   Is there ‑ any date that week is suitable as far as the Court is concerned.  What suits the parties’ convenience?  Mr Donaghue?

MR DONAGHUE:   For my part, your Honour, late in that week would be – the Thursday or the Friday would be desirable.

HER HONOUR:   Mr Lim.

MR LIM:   Either of those dates would be suitable.

HER HONOUR:   Any preference as between the Thursday and the Friday, Mr Donaghue?

MR DONAGHUE:   I am not sure if my junior is shaking her head in Sydney about either of those dates but if she ‑ ‑ ‑

HER HONOUR:   Ms Mitchelmore is being very accommodating.  Should we go for Friday the 19th?

MR DONAGHUE:   Yes, thank you, your Honour.

MR LIM:   May it please the Court.

HER HONOUR:   Very well.  In that case, I will just endorse the short minutes, Friday, 19 February 2016, and it is sufficient that I make orders in conformity with the short minutes of order which I initial and date and place with the Court file.

MR LIM:   May it please the Court.

MR DONAGHUE:   May it please the Court.

MR LIM:   Before your Honour adjourns, can I just correct a misstatement in paragraph 1 of my submissions of last week?

HER HONOUR:   Yes, by all means.

MR LIM:   The error is in relation to the effective date of the new determination.  I had understood that the new determination was registered and commenced on 3 December.

HER HONOUR:   Yes.

MR LIM:   That understanding was based on a miscommunication or misunderstanding of the communication from the defendants, and the position is that the new determination will be registered and will commence today.

HER HONOUR:   I see.  Yes, thank you for that.  Very well, the Court will adjourn.

AT 9.33 AM THE MATTER WAS ADJOURNED