Crossley v English [2025] WASCA 141
This water access case (at [101-106]) considers the ‘principle of co-interpretation’ – that being, when one Act amends another, the two are read together ‘as one connected and combined statement of the will of parliament’10. The principle applies at both common law and under statute11, though the latter ‘has added …
Meredith v NSW (No 5) [2025] NSWSC 1133
M headed a class action for assault [etc] after she was strip searched by police for drugs at a music festival. Were the searches ‘necessary’ in terms of the ‘seriousness and urgency of the circumstances’14?
Necessary means ‘absolutely necessary’, and urgency indicates a situation ‘requiring immediate action or attention’. The …
Grapple Pay v Conroy [2025] NSWCA 171
The Latin term in pari materia means ‘analogous’. Parliament is presumed to intend the same words used in a later statute ‘in a similar connection’ take the same meaning7. The practical application of this depends on the strength of the analogy in question.
In the present case, a suggested analogy between …
Police Federation v CCP (Victoria) [2025] FCA 865
This case repeats principles applying to enterprise agreements10 but makes extra points. One, context extends to the ‘historical antecedents’ by reference to what they may show. Two, when an expression is transplanted from history, ‘it may have brought with it some of the soil in which it once grew, retaining a …
Laming v Electoral Commissioner [2025] HCA 31
Statutes rarely pursue one purpose 100%. Did certain Facebook posts not giving sender particulars attract civil penalties at the maximum possible level?12
Although an object was to deter non-compliance, it did not follow that penalties calculated on a multiple recipient basis were intended. Section 15AA was of little assistance. The deterrence …
Queensland v Johnston [2025] QCA 142
J was suspended from teaching pending unrelated criminal charges. On acquittal, he sought lost pay on the basis he was ‘available to work’ at all times consistent with a statutory directive13. J argued that an example in the directive of detention in a correctional facility operated to confine the directive to physical …
Alliance Australia v Abawi [2025] NSWCA 85
An issue in this case was whether regulations made under a statute were extrinsic materials for the purposes of assisting determination of what ‘soft tissue injury’ means in the statute. The court said ‘no’.
Regulations made after enactment cannot be taken into account. But those made at the same time as the statute …
Monaltrie Area CAI v Santin [2025] NSWLEC 38
Subject to minor nuances, development consents are to be read in the same way as statutes7. In Monaltrie, Robson J (at [37-40]) makes 2 valuable points.
First, a development consent is to be interpreted ‘having regard to its enduring nature which encourages a fair but liberal reading of the …
Rainforest [2025] FCA 532, Panesar [2025] FCA 477
Two recent cases comment on treaty interpretation.
In Rainforest (at [121]), Shariff J noted – ‘it is difficult to see a material difference between the principles governing the interpretation of international treaties and those ordinarily adopted in respect of domestic legislation’11. In Panesar (at [97]), Feutrill J said – …
Archer v Minister [2025] FCA 471
Archer migrated in 1965 and held a permanent visa. After conviction as an accessory to murder, her visa was cancelled on character and other grounds12. The judge intimated that the cancelling provision was ‘to be construed by reference to the established principle … requiring strict construction of an Act which affects the …
