Government Bulletin - 25 February 2015

With the Cunneen matter due to be considered by the High Court next week, what better time than the present to take stock of the road so far and focus on the legal issues.

Whilst this matter has occupied much column space in the press, in no small part because of the circumstances of the alleged conduct and the identity of the applicant, it is, at its heart a statutory construction case, concerning s.8(2) of theICAC Act (the Act).

At first instance it had been argued that the two limbs of section 8(2) of the Act each needed to be satisfied and that the two tests could not overlap or be satisfied by the same conduct. The Supreme Court rejected this construction.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal on an argument not raised at trial or in written submissions on appeal. The majority, consisting of their Honours Justice Ward and Justice Basten, holding that the meaning of "adversely affects" in s.8(2) only extends to conduct that has the capacity to compromise