Australian Communications and Media Authority v Today FM (Sydney) Pty Ltd [2015] HCA 7

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

FRENCH CJ, HAYNE, KIEFEL, BELL, GAGELER AND KEANE JJ

AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY APPELLANT

AND

TODAY FM (SYDNEY) PTY LTD RESPONDENT

Australian Communications and Media Authority v Today FM (Sydney) Pty Ltd [2015] HCA 7 4 March 2015 S225/2014

ORDER

1. Appeal allowed with costs.

2. Set aside paragraphs 1 to 3 of the orders of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia made on 14 March 2014 and, in their place, order that the appeal to that Court be dismissed with costs.

On appeal from the Federal Court of Australia

Representation

J T Gleeson SC, Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth with N J Williams SC and A M Mitchelmore for the appellant and for the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, intervening (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor)

N C Hutley SC with R C A Higgins for the respondent (instructed by Holding Redlich Lawyers)

M G Hinton QC, Solicitor-General for the State of South Australia with A C Wells for the Attorney-General for the State of South Australia, intervening (instructed by Crown Solicitor (SA))

G R Donaldson SC, Solicitor-General for the State of Western Australia with K H Glancy for the Attorney-General for the State of Western Australia, intervening (instructed by State Solicitor (WA))

P J Dunning QC, Solicitor-General of the State of Queensland with A D Keyes for the Attorney-General of the State of Queensland, intervening (instructed by Crown Solicitor (Qld))

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

CATCHWORDS

Australian Communications and Media Authority v Today FM (Sydney) Pty Ltd

Statutes – Statutory construction – Clause 8(1)(g) of Sched 2 to Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) ("BSA") conditioned commercial radio broadcasting licence on licensee not using broadcasting service in commission of offence against another Commonwealth Act or a law of a State or Territory – Authority's functions included suspension and cancellation of licences and taking enforcement action under BSA – Authority authorised to conduct investigations for purposes of its functions – Where, as part of investigation, Authority made finding that licensee used broadcasting service to commit offence against State law and thereby breached cl 8(1)(g) licence condition – Whether Authority had power to do so in absence of criminal court finding offence proven.