A search order in Queensland is extraordinary and not a mere investigatory tool

In brief

The case of Adani Mining Pty Ltd & Anor v Pennings [2020] QCA 169 concerned an appeal to the Queensland Court of Appeal against the refusal of an application seeking a search order under  rule 261A of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999  (UCPR). 

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on the basis that a search order was an extraordinary exercise of the Court's jurisdiction and held that the evidence before it was "wholly inadequate to justify the order sought" (at [22]). 

Brief background

Adani Mining Pty Ltd is the developer of a coal mine in the Galilee Basin in Queensland, and Carmichael Rail Network Pty Ltd is the developer of an associated railway line (the Appellants). The Respondent is the principal of a group of political activists whose object is to prevent the development of the mine and associated railway line.