Sanders v Nobbs [1999] NFSC 2

SUPREME COURT OF NORFOLK ISLAND Sanders v Nobbs [1999] NFSC 2

PRACTICE & PROCEDURE – petition failed to comply with s 46 of Legislative Assembly Act 1979 – whether leave to amend should be granted.

The Legislative Assembly Act 1979, s 46

WILLIAM WINTON SANDERS v RONALD COANE NOBBS

SC 3 OF 1999 CORAM: BEAUMONT CJ. DATE" 9 SEPTEMBER 1999

IN THE SUPREME COURT ) ) SC 3 of 1999 NORFOLK ISLAND ) IN THE MATTER OF: SECTION 46 OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ACT 1979 AND IN THE MATTER OF: WILLIAM WINTON SANDERS Petitioner AND IN THE MATTER OF: RONALD COANE NOBBS Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT (No. 1) (on application to amend petition) BEAUMONT CJ: 9 September 1999 On 6 September 1999, I gave the petitioner leave to amend his petition, then indicating that I would give reasons for the grant of leave later. These are the reasons. By a petition dated 5 March 1999 filed that day, the petitioner, Mr Sanders, purported to petition the Court for an order under s 46 of the Legislative Assembly Act 1979 ("the Act") that the respondent, Mr Nobbs, who was on 1 May 1997 declared to have been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, was not duly elected because he was not a person duly qualified to be a candidate for election. Section 46 of the Act relevantly provides: "46. (1) A person who was entitled to vote at an election may dispute the validity of the election by petition addressed to the Supreme Court.

(2) The petition shall –

(a) set out the facts relied on in support of the petition;

(b) set out the relief to which the petition claims to be entitled; and

(c) be signed by the petitioner.