Muslimin v The Queen [2010] HCA 7

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

FRENCH CJ,

GUMMOW, HAYNE, HEYDON AND KIEFEL JJ

MUSLIMIN APPELLANT

AND

THE QUEEN RESPONDENT

Muslimin v The Queen [2010] HCA 7

10 March 2010

D12/2009

ORDER

1. Appeal allowed.

2. Set aside the order of the Court of Criminal Appeal of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory made on 29 April 2009 and in its place order that:

(a) the appeal to that Court be allowed; and

(b) the appellant's conviction be quashed and a verdict of acquittal be entered.

On appeal from the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory

Representation

A Wyvill SC with S W Lee for the appellant (instructed by Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission)

P A Willee QC with L A Taylor for the respondent (instructed by Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth))

Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

CATCHWORDS

Muslimin v The Queen

Criminal law – Statutes – Extension of offence provision – Fisheries Management Act 1991 (Cth) ("Act"), s 101, created offence of, in certain circumstances, being in possession of foreign boat within Australian Fishing Zone ("AFZ") equipped with nets, traps or other equipment for fishing – Section 12(2) of Act stated that provisions in Act or regulations made in relation to fishing in AFZ extend, to extent capable of doing so, to fishing for sedentary organisms in or on any part of Australian continental shelf not within AFZ as if they were in AFZ – Section 4 of Act defined "fishing" as one or more forms of identified activity – Where appellant indicted for being in possession of, at a place in the waters above Australian continental shelf not within AFZ, foreign boat equipped with nets, traps or other equipment for fishing for sedentary organisms – Whether indictment disclosed offence – Whether s 12(2) extended operation of s 101 to waters above Australian continental shelf not within AFZ – Whether s 101 a provision made "in relation to fishing".