Namoi Valley Farms Pty Limited v Office of Environment and Heritage New South Wales; Department of Premier and Cabinet [2020] NSWCCA 298

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Namoi Valley Farms Pty Limited v Office of Environment and Heritage New South Wales; Department of Premier and Cabinet [2020] NSWCCA 298 Hearing dates: 9 October 2020 Date of orders: 9 October 2020 Decision date: 09 October 2020 Before: Brereton JA at [1], [20] Johnson J at [18] Davies J at [19] Decision: Leave to appeal refused. Catchwords: EVIDENCE — privileges — legal professional privilege — whether documents created for the dominant purpose of obtaining professional legal advice – whether affidavit supporting claim of privilege was admissible – held, affidavit evidence of subjective intention admissible as relevant but not decisive – whether primary judge erred in inspecting documents subject of privilege claim – held, no error in inspecting documents to confirm the number of relevant documents – leave to appeal refused Legislation Cited: (NSW) Native Vegetation Act 2003, s 12 (NSW) Criminal Appeal Act 1912, s 5F Cases Cited: Chief Executive Office of Environment and Heritage and Namoi Valley Farms Pty Limited [2020] NSWLEC 69 Hancock v Rinehart (Privilege) [2016] NSWSC 12 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Namoi Valley Farms Pty Ltd (applicant) Chief Executive, Office of Environment & Heritage (respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr J Ireland (applicant) Mr D Beaufils (respondent)

Solicitors: McGirr Lawyers (appellant) Department of Planning, Industry & Environment (respondent) File Number(s): 2019/81751 Decision under appeal Court or tribunal: NSW Land and Environment Court Jurisdiction: Class 5 Citation: [2020] NSWLEC 69 Date of Decision: 12 June 2020 Before: Pain J File Number(s): 2019/81751