Aboriginal Development Commission & Ors v Minister of State for Aboriginal Affairs (G.L. Hand), & Ors [1988] FCA 318

Aboriginal Development Commission & Ors v Minister of State for Aboriginal Affairs (G.L. Hand), & Ors [1988] FCA 318

The application must be dismissed as there was no applicant present to pursue it, and the issue should be determined promptly, if at all; the proceedings arose from uncertainties in the Minister's direction, not from fault by the applicants.

Parties
First Applicant: Aboriginal Development Commission; Second Applicants: Lena Annai Passi, John Edward Atkinson, Andrew George Thomas, Maria Joyce Thompson, Helen Djimbarrwala Williams, Behn Ward, Phillip Yanner; Third Applicant: Ossie Benjamin Cruse; First Respondent: Gerard Leslie Hand, the Minister of State for Aboriginal Affairs; Second Respondents: Terence Joseph O'Shane, Lois O'Donoghue CBE AM, Charles Nelson Perkins, Getano Belford Lui Jr, Esther Carroll, Peter Shane Yu, Robert Lee, Patrick Lionel Dodson
Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
06 July 1988
Procedural Posture
Administrative Law Application / Application for Judicial Review—reasons for Judgment; Decision on Adjournment and Costs
Outcome
application dismissed
Legal Topics
Judicial Review, Costs, Ministerial Direction, Aboriginal Development Commission Act 1980 (cth)
Administrative Law Judicial Review Costs Ministerial Direction Aboriginal Development Commission Act 1980 (cth)

Case Brief

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Parties

Aboriginal Development Commission

First Applicant

Lena Annai Passi, John Edward Atkinson, Andrew George Thomas, Maria Joyce Thompson, Helen Djimbarrwala Williams, Behn Ward, Phillip Yanner

Second Applicants

Ossie Benjamin Cruse

Third Applicant

Gerard Leslie Hand, the Minister of State for Aboriginal Affairs

First Respondent

Terence Joseph O'Shane, Lois O'Donoghue CBE AM, Charles Nelson Perkins, Getano Belford Lui Jr, Esther Carroll, Peter Shane Yu, Robert Lee, Patrick Lionel Dodson

Second Respondents

Procedural Posture

Administrative Law Application / Application for Judicial Review—reasons for Judgment; Decision on Adjournment and Costs

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the second and third applicants were properly dismissed as members of the Aboriginal Development Commission
  2. 2 Whether the second respondents were lawfully appointed in their place
  3. 3 Validity and effect of the Minister's direction under s.11 of the Aboriginal Development Commission Act 1980 (Cth)

Ratio Decidendi

The application must be dismissed as there was no applicant present to pursue it, and the issue should be determined promptly, if at all; the proceedings arose from uncertainties in the Minister's direction, not from fault by the applicants.

Court Disposition

application dismissed

Orders

  • First applicant to pay the costs of the second respondents
  • First applicant to pay the costs of the first respondent up to, but excluding, 20 May 1988