Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a personal explanation, as I claim to have been misrepresented.

Leave granted.

In an address to the federal council of the Police Federation of Australia last week I made some remarks about a recent High Court decision: International Finance Trust Company Limited v New South Wales Crime Commission. In this case the High Court ruled by the slimmest of majorities that section 10 of the New South Wales Criminal Assets Recovery Act was constitutionally invalid. In my address I clearly articulated my concerns about the decision and indeed about the longstanding trend that has seen the High Court consolidate its position through its powers of judicial interpretation. Unsurprisingly, the Law Council of Australia yesterday distributed a media release which described my remarks, in typical hyperbolic fashion, as ‘extraordinary’. The Law Council president, John Corcoran, claimed that my remarks displayed ‘an alarming support for unchecked executive powers’ and went on to say that he hoped my remarks had been misquoted or taken out of context.

Mr Deputy President, I can assure you that I was neither misquoted nor taken out of context. I stand by my remarks on the matter and affirm today my belief that the High Court in this instance has acted with complete disregard for the interests of public order for the sake of consolidating its own powers through the principle of the separation of judicial power. I suggest that Mr Corcoran, if he wants to express genuine concern about my remarks, at the very least make an effort to contact me or my office to discuss his concerns, rather than express his hope that I had been misquoted or taken out of context through a media release. I understand the Law Council’s vested interest in maintaining judicial carte blanche, but I am afraid I am going to side with the interests of law enforcement and the public on this issue.