Hunter Community Environment Centre Inc v Browne [2024] NSWSC 1449

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hunter Community Environment Centre Inc v Browne [2024] NSWSC 1449 Hearing dates: 06–07 May 2024 Date of orders: 15 November 2024 Decision date: 15 November 2024 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Administrative Law Before: McNaughton J Decision: (1) Grant the application to file the summons out of time. (2) Dismiss the summons. (3) Order the plaintiffs to pay the defendants' costs. Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – police – search warrant – application for judicial review pursuant to s 69 of the Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) – application to file summons out of time – whether search warrants were invalid – whether police had reasonable grounds to believe that there was on the premises a thing connected with an indictable offence – whether police relied upon false and/or misleading material – whether the issuing officer had reasonable grounds to issue the warrant – where there was an error in recording time of application for warrant Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) ss 117, 201, 211 Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) s 138 Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW) ss 47, 48, 60, 62-63, 65-66, 76 Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) s 69 Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Regulation 2016 (NSW) regs 4, 5, 14 Cases Cited: Abdulla v Birmingham City Council [2013] 1 All ER 649; [2012] UKSC 47 Brisbane South Regional Health Authority v Taylor (1996) 186 CLR 541; [1996] HCA 25 Caratti v Commissioner of Australian Federal Police (No 2) [2016] FCA 1132 Carroll v Mijovich (1991) 25 NSWLR 441 Commissioner of Police v Atkinson (1991) 23 NSWLR 495 Doyle v Commissioner of Police [2020] NSWCA 11 Gallo v Dawson (1990) 64 ALJR 458 George v Rockett (1990) 170 CLR 104; [1990] HCA 26 Gibbs v Rea [1998] AC 786 Harland v Murphy [2022] NSWSC 1376 Jackson v Mijovich (Supreme Court (NSW), 22 March 1991, unrep) Lee v NSW Commissioner for Police (No 3) [2019] NSWSC 694 Malubel Pty Ltd v Elder (1998) 88 FCR 242 Pagett v The Sydney Children's Hospital Network [2024] NSWSC 292 Parker v Churchill (1985) 9 FCR 316 Patten v Justice of the Peace, Redfern Court (1986) 22 A Crim R 94 Polley v Johnson [2015] NSWCA 256 R v Petroulias (No 8) [2007] NSWSC 82 Re Commonwealth; Ex parte Marks (2000) 75 ALJR 470; [2000] HCA 67 Roman v The Commonwealth of Australia (2004) 16 NTLR 80; [2004] NTSC 9 Salum v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services & Multicultural Affairs [2021] HCATrans 51 State of New South Wales v Corbett (2007) 230 CLR 606; [2007] HCA 32 Tomko v Palasty (No 2) (2007) 71 NSWLR 61; [2007] NSWCA 369 Vella v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2015) 90 ALJR 89; [2015] HCA 42 Vincent v Randall & Anor [1999] NSWSC 833 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Hunter Community Environment Centre Incorporated (First Plaintiff) Eloise Baker (Second Plaintiff) Sunny Short (Third Plaintiff) Cedar Gray (Fourth Plaintiff) Elena Pavlou-Watt (Fifth Plaintiff) Sadiya Binte Karim (Sixth Plaintiff) Haley Papasavvas (Seventh Plaintiff) Sinead Lewis (Eighth Plaintiff) Scott Mackenzie (Ninth Plaintiff)