Blatchford & Anor v Clubley & Anor [2015] NSWLEC 1041

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Blatchford & Anor v Clubley & Anor [2015] NSWLEC 1041 Hearing dates: 29 January 2015 Date of orders: 29 January 2015 Decision date: 29 January 2015 Jurisdiction: Class 2 Before: Galwey AC Decision: Application for recusal refused Catchwords: APPLICATION FOR RECUSAL Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: J Blatchford and L Bianchi (Applicants) G Clubley and S Ierace (Respondents) Representation: First Applicant in person First Respondent in person File Number(s): 20640 of 2014

EXTEMPORE Judgment 1. ACTING COMMISSIONER: Mr Blatchford, I have considered your comments and I understand that, of course, you want to ensure that you have a fair hearing, so I will just respond with my comments, which lead me to believe that there is no basis for me to recuse myself and there are no grounds on which there is any basis for actual or apprehended bias. 2. The reasons for that are that my only relationship with Mr Clubley in the past has been an association on a Standards Australia committee where we worked together on developing a professional Standard for arboriculture, and that was from 2007, perhaps, to 2009 with occasional meetings in Sydney, during which time I lived, as I do now, in Melbourne. We would be in a meeting room with other arborists and other professionals for a day a few times per year during that time. 3. Since then I continue to live in Melbourne. I have never worked professionally with Mr Clubley in that time. Since then I have not worked with Mr Clubley in that time. 4. My only work in Sydney is here at the Court. I run a business in Melbourne. 5. I have not socialised with Mr Clubley, apart from perhaps during that Standards committee time when we had lunch together in a meeting room with other arborists there - that would be my only socialising with Mr Clubley. 6. I do not think that an ordinary bystander (who has seen what we have done together who would be watching this) would perceive that there is any apprehended bias. 7. Also, at the previous hearing, I think this all came out. We made this very clear at the previous hearing. You had no objection at that stage and nothing has changed since then, and I have had no relationship with Mr Clubley since that previous hearing - so I just want to assure you of all that. 8. On those grounds, I will not be recusing myself. David Galwey Acting Commissioner DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated. Decision last updated: 12 March 2015