Chen v Health Care Complaints Commission [2017] NSWCA 186

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Chen v Health Care Complaints Commission [2017] NSWCA 186 Hearing dates: 15 June 2017 Decision date: 31 July 2017 Before: Basten JA at [1]; Leeming JA at [23]; Payne JA at [24]. Decision: (1) Appeal dismissed. (2) Appellant to pay the costs of the respondent as agreed or assessed. Catchwords: OCCUPATIONS – medical practitioners – over-prescribing drugs of addiction – failure to maintain adequate medical records – registration cancelled after findings of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct – whether power to cancel registration conditioned on finding that practitioner "probably permanently unfit" to practise – whether fixing a period of time during which an application for re-registration could not be made was an irrelevant consideration – whether Tribunal failed to take into account substantial and consequential evidence

STATUTORY INTERPRETATION – implied restriction on statutory power – consistency of proposed restriction with legislative scheme – context provided by legislative history Legislation Cited: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW), s 29(4)(b) Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW), ss 139B, 139E, 149A, 149B, 149C; Pt 8, Div 3 Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), ss 16, 17, 297 Medical Act 1858 (UK), s 29 Medical Practitioners Act 1912 (NSW), s 9 Medical Practitioners Act 1938 (NSW), ss 26, 27 Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 1966 (NSW), ss 8, 27, 28 Health Practitioner Regulation (NSW) Regulation 2010, Sch 2 Legal Profession Uniform Law Admission Rules (NSW), r 10 Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008, cll 34, 79 Cases Cited: Allinson v General Council of Medical Education and Registration [1894] 1 QB 750 Ex parte Lenehan (1948) 77 CLR 403; [1948] HCA 45 Ex parte Meehan; Re Medical Practitioners Act [1965] NSWR 30 Ex parte Munro: Re Legal Practitioners' Act (1969) 71 SR (NSW) 448 Felix v General Dental Council [1960] AC 704 Health Care Complaints Commission v Do [2014] NSWCA 307 Health Care Complaints Commission v Karalasingham [2007] NSWCA 267 Health Care Complaints Commission v Litchfield (1997) 41 NSWLR 630; [1997] NSWSC 297 In re Dennis (Court of Appeal (NSW), 23 December 1988, unreported) Joseph v NSW Commissioner of Police [2017] NSWCA 31 Kioa v West (1985) 159 CLR 550; [1985] HCA 81; Kirk v Industrial Court (NSW) (2010) 239 CLR 531; [2010] HCA 1 Kotowicz v Law Society of New South Wales (No 2) (Court of Appeal (NSW), 7 August 1987, unreported) Kruger v The Commonwealth (1997) 190 CLR; [1997] HCA 27 Minister for Aboriginal Affairs v Peko-Wallsend Ltd (1986) 162 CLR 24; [1986] HCA 40 Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v MZYTS (2013) 230 FCR 431; [2013] FCAFC 114 Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v SZSRS [2014] FCAFC 16; (2014) 309 ALR 67 Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v SZRKT (2013) 212 FCR 99; [2013] FCA 317 New South Wales Bar Association v Cummins (2001) 52 NSWLR 279; [2001] NSWCA 284 NSW Bar Association v Maddocks (Court of Appeal (NSW), 23 August 1988, unreported) NSW Bar Association v Murphy (2002) 55 NSWLR 23; [2002] NSWCA 138 Pillai v Messiter (No 2) (1989) 16 NSWLR 197 Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of NSW v P [2003] NSWCA 320 Qidwai v Brown [1984] 1 NSWLR 100 R v General Medical Council [1930] 1 KB 562 Roy Morgan Research Centre Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue (Vict) (2001) 207 CLR 72 Saeed v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (2010) 241 CLR 252; [2010] HCA 23 Stanoevski v The Council of the Law Society of New South Wales [2008] NSWCA 93 The Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales v Ritchard (Court of Appeal (NSW), 31 July 1987, unreported) Torbey Investments Corporated Pty Ltd v Ferrara [2017] NSWCA 9 Zaidi v Health Care Complaints Commission (1988) 44 NSWLR 82; [1997] NSWCA 354 Texts Cited: Aronson, Groves and Weeks, Judicial Review of Administrative Action and Government Liability (Thomson Reuters, 6th ed, 2017) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Mengyi Chen (Appellant) Health Care Complaints Commission (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: S A Beckett / S Climo (Appellant) K Richardson SC / P Aitken (Respondent)