Friday, July 30, 2010

Friday Afternoon HCA Transcript

A couple of amusing exchanges in the hearing of Anstis, yesterday:

Commissioner of Taxation v Anstis [2010] HCATrans 183

STEPHEN GAGELER SC: Your Honours, this is a short case in a field that has been the subject of intense scrutiny by the Court in recent years. Without any preamble, can I take your Honours immediately to the relevant provisions of the Social Security Act and the Social Security (Administration) Act. I confess that I do not know exactly what form your Honours have those documents in.

HEYDON J: Mr Gageler, my infirmity is catching up with me. It is very hard to hear what you are saying.

Then there was this confusion:

MR GAGELER: .....If your Honours then move to the Social Security (Administration) Act you will see in section 3 some definitions and references to definitions. Relevantly in subsection (2) the definitions in the 1991 Social Security Act are brought in. Your Honours might also note subsection (4).

HEYDON J: I think I am not completely with your argument. Are you talking about the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999?

MR GAGELER: I am, your Honour.

HEYDON J: You took us to section 3 and then you took us to section 3(4).

MR GAGELER: Yes.

HEYDON J: What you said about section 3 does not correspond with what I have in front of me, and there is no subsection (4). Where have I gone wrong?

MR GAGELER: I am sorry, your Honour. I should have taken your Honour to subsection (3).

HEYDON J: It begins “If (a) a person makes a claim for a senior’s health card - - -

MR GAGELER: The Social Security (Administration) Act as at 24 May 2006.

HEYDON J: What is your subsection (3) again? What are the opening words?

MR GAGELER: Section 3 deals with interpretation. Subsection (3)?

HEYDON J: “A reference in this Act”?

MR GAGELER: “A reference in this Act”, yes, I am sorry, your Honour. I did not think I was going to be hitting controversial territory at this stage, your Honour. Section 11 states the general rule that...

No comments:

Post a Comment

 
OUR TERMS
In case it is not abundantly clear from the context, none of what is written here should be considered legal advice or anything close to it.
The views expressed in each post are the views of the contributor who has authored that post only and should not be attributed to anyone else.
Feel free to quote or reproduce our posts for non-commercial purposes wherever you like but you need to attribute authorship. Click the CC logo to see our Creative Commons licence:

Creative Commons License