Morris McMahon & Co Pty Limited v SafeWork NSW [2019] NSWCCA 36

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Morris McMahon & Co Pty Limited v SafeWork NSW [2019] NSWCCA 36 Hearing dates: 11 February 2019 Date of orders: 27 February 2019 Decision date: 27 February 2019 Before: Hoeben CJ at CL at [1] Schmidt J at [2] Adamson J at [113] Decision: (1) Leave to appeal granted.

(2) Appeal dismissed. Catchwords: CRIME – Appeals – Appeal against sentence – Application for leave to appeal – Offence under s 32 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) – Objective seriousness of the offence – Whether offence fell into the mid-range of objective seriousness – Whether proper account taken of mitigating matters – Whether sentence manifestly excessive – Increase in maximum penalty for a statutory offence – Developing sentencing practices – Errors not established – Leave to appeal granted – Appeal dismissed Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 3A, 21A Fines Act 1996 (NSW), s 6 Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (NSW), ss 8, 12 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), ss 14, 16, 18, 19, 28, 31–34 Cases Cited: Baumer v The Queen (1988) 166 CLR 51; [1998] HCA 67 Bulga Underground Operations Pty Ltd v Nash [2016] NSWCCA 37 Capral Aluminium Limited v WorkCover Authority of NSW (2000) 49 NSWLR 610; [2000] NSWIRComm 7 Dinsdale v The Queen (2000) 202 CLR 321; [2000] HCA Director of Public Prosecutions v Dalgliesh (a pseudonym) [2017] HCA 41 Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific Pty Ltd v Environment Protection Authority [2017] NSWCCA 302 Elias v The Queen; Issa v The Queen (2013) 248 CLR 483; [2013] HCA 31 Hili v The Queen; Jones v The Queen (2010) 242 CLR 520; [2010] HCA 45 Mahdi Jahandideh v R [2014] NSWCCA 178 Markarian v The Queen (2005) 228 CLR 357; [2005] HCA 25 Mirza v R [2007] NSWCCA 248 Mulato v R [2006] NSWCCA 282 Muldrock v The Queen (2011) 244 CLR 120; [2011] HCA 39 Nash v Glennies Creek Coal Management Pty Ltd; Nash v Integra Coal Operations Pty Ltd (No 9) (2015) 91 NSWLR 368; [2015] NSWIC 15 Nash v Silver City Drilling (NSW) Pty Ltd; Attorney General for New South Wales v Silver City Drilling (NSW) Pty Ltd [2017] NSWCCA 96 R v McNaughten (2006) 66 NSWLR 566; [2006] NSWCCA 242 R v Pham (2015) 256 CLR 550; [2015] HCA 39 Riley v Australian Grader Hire Pty Ltd (2001) 103 IR 143; [2001] NSWIRComm 31 Tyler v Sydney Electricity (1993) 47 IR 1 Unity Pty Ltd v SafeWork NSW [2018] NSWCCA 266 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Morris McMahon & Co Pty Limited (Applicant) SafeWork NSW (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: J Agius SC (Applicant) I Taylor SC with D Nagle (Respondent)