Queanbeyan City Council v Environment Protection Authority [2011] NSWCCA 108

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Queanbeyan City Council v Environment Protection Authority [2011] NSWCCA 108 Hearing dates: Friday 6 May 2011 Decision date: 06 May 2011 Before: Whealy JA at [1] Hall J at [45] McCallum J at [46] Decision: (1) The decision below be varied but only to the extent necessary to vacate the order for costs made by Pepper J. (2) Otherwise leave to appeal should be refused. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - Appeal against interlocutory decision - prosecution under Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 - refusal to grant stay - failure of sewerage pumping station - pollution not permissible under environment protection licence - procedural unfairness - judicial discretion as to factual findings - public interest in prosecution. Legislation Cited: Criminal Appeal Act 1912 s 5F Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 ss 120, 122 Cases Cited: R v Van Phu Ho (Unreported, NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, 18th July 1994, Gleeson CJ, Mahoney JA, Dunford J) House v The King (1936) 55 CLR 499 at 504 - 504 R v Steffan (1993) 30 NSWLR 633 at 644 - 645 R v Matovski (1989) 15 NSWLR 720 at 723 R v Dinh [2000] NSWCCA 536 at [34] R v Einfeld [2008] NSWCCA 215; 71 NSWLR 31 R v Ulman-Narumiec [2003) 143 A Crim R 531 at [24] and [70] - [72] Jago v District Court of New South Wales (1989) 168 CLR 23 at 34 per Mason CJ, at 76 per Gaudron J Dupas v R (2010) 241 CLR 237 R v Glennon (1992) 173 CLR 592 at 605 - 606 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Queanbeyan City Council (Applicant) Environmental Protection Authority (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: R S McIlwaine SC / T To (Applicant) J L Glissan QC / G Preston (Respondent) Solicitors: Herring & Associates Lawyers (Applicant) Office of Environment and Heritage, Department of Premier and Cabinet (Respondent) File Number(s): 2011/13689 Decision under appeal Citation: [2010] NSWLEC 237 Date of Decision: 2010-12-21 00:00:00 Before: Pepper J File Number(s): 2008/50080