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Anzbrook Pty Ltd v Minister For The Environment, Heritage And The Arts.

Country/Territory
Australia
Type of court
Others
Date
Jan 22, 2010
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Court name
Federal Magistrates Court of Australia
Seat of court
Sydney
Judge
Wilson.
Reference number
[2010] FMCA 34
Language
English
Subject
Wild species & ecosystems, Legal questions
Keyword
Enforcement/compliance National implementation/transposal International agreement-implementation
Abstract
On 14 April 2009 Cairns Marine Aquarium Fish lodged an application in the Federal Magistrates Court for review of the minister's decision to refuse to grant a permit to export CITES II listed freshwater sawfish to an aquarium in Dubai. Cairns Marine's application included a number of grounds, including claims that there was a breach of natural justice and that the minister erred in law. The matter was heard in the Cairns Federal Magistrate's Court. The Federal Magistrate quashed the minister's decision and remitted it back for a new decision. Among other things, the Federal Magistrate found that there had not been a breach of procedural fairness, though the minister had erred in law in making his decision. The respondent has conflated the two matters about which he was required to be satisfied. He seems to have concluded that the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre was not an appropriate and acceptable aquarium because the display in that aquarium was not likely to be for primarily conservation purposes. Rather, the respondent should have separately answered the two questions. There was no consideration of whether the receiving aquarium was an appropriate and acceptable facility to house the swordfish. The purpose of the display was not relevant to this enquiry. Rather, the respondent was required to separately consider the facility itself, and its suitability as a separate enquiry. Therefore, the decision making process undertaken by the respondent was flawed, in that he failed to consider a relevant matter. The application for an export permit ought to be considered by the respondent according to law. The decision of 27 January 2009 must be quashed.
Full text
COU-156676.pdf