NSW Commissioner of Police v Cottle [2022] HCA 7
On being compulsorily retired under police laws, Cottle sued for unfair dismissal4. One issue was whether those laws blocked this action. Answer – ‘no’. Overlapping statutes ‘should be construed in a way that best achieves a harmonious result’5, even if sometimes they cannot ‘stand or live together’6.
The first obligation, however, is to seek a coherent operation of both together. The presumption that statutes do not contradict one another will be excluded only where the evidence from all sources shows that harmonious co-operation is not possible. iTip – start with a ‘live and let live’ approach where statutes overlap then assess all the evidence.
This principle is from Episode 83 of interpretation NOW!
Footnotes:
4 s 72A Police Act 1990 (NSW), s 84(1) Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW).
5 Eaton [2013] HCA 2 at [78]), Project Blue Sky [1998] HCA 28 (at [70]).
6 Eaton [2013] HCA 2 at [48]), Ferdinands [2006] HCA 5 (at [18]).