McCloy v The Honourable Megan Latham [2015] NSWSC 1782

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: McCloy v The Honourable Megan Latham [2015] NSWSC 1782 Hearing dates: 12 November 2015 Date of orders: 12 November 2015 Decision date: 12 November 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: McDougall J Decision: Reject tender of report of Parliamentary Committee. Catchwords: EVIDENCE – parliamentary privilege – state parliament – where Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 (Cth) declaratory of general law – whether statements made to parliamentary committee may be admitted into evidence – where purpose of tendering evidence is to enable consideration of what a reasonable bystander would infer from those statements – where the reasoning involved in that process might involve drawing inferences about the speaker's state of mind or motives – contrary to the general law rule relating to parliamentary privilege – consequence that evidence is inadmissible Legislation Cited: Bill of Rights 1689 Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 (NSW) Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 (Cth) Cases Cited: Amann Aviation Pty Ltd v Commonwealth of Australia (1988) 19 FCR 223 Prebble v Television New Zealand Ltd [1995] 1 AC 321 R v Jackson [1987] 8 NSWLR 116 R v Murphy (1986) 64 ALR 498 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Jeffrey Raymond McCloy (Plaintiff) The Honourable Megan Latham (First Defendant) Independent Commission Against Corruption (Second Defendant) Attorney-General for New South Wales (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: ID Faulkner SC / RL Gall (Plaintiff) NJ Williams SC / B Kremer / D Hume (Defendants)