Visser v New South Wales Crime Commission

The proceedings before the Court of Appeal of New South Wales involved an application for leave to appeal against consent orders made in the Supreme Court. These consent orders had been entered in proceedings brought under the *Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990* (NSW). The applicant sought to set aside these consent orders by relying on the provisions of the *Contracts Review Act 1980* (NSW).

The primary legal issues before the Court of Appeal concerned the applicant's eligibility for legal aid and the procedural question of whether a tutor was required for the applicant, who was under 18 years of age. The court also had to consider the potential conflict of interest between the proposed tutor and the child applicant, and whether the child applicant would derive any benefit from the success of the application.

The Court of Appeal noted that legal aid had been refused for the trial and that there was an unlikely prospect of a grant of legal aid for the appeal. The application for legal aid was also considered belated. Given the conflict of interest and the lack of benefit to the child applicant, the court ordered that the third applicant be removed from the proceedings as an applicant and joined as the second respondent. Consequently, the application for leave to appeal was dismissed.