Keane CJ, Lander and Foster JJ
The Dunghutti Elders Council (Aboriginal Corporation) RNTBC had challenged the validity of a notice issued by the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations requiring the Council to show why it should not be put under special administration. Flick J in the Federal Court dismissed that challenge (Dunghutti Elders Council (Aboriginal Corporation) RNTBC v Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations [2011] FCA 370), and the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed an appeal against Flick J’s decision.
The present judgment dealt with an application by the Council to re-open the Full Court’s decision. The Council argued that the Full Court had failed to deal in its judgment with one of the arguments raised in the notice of appeal. The Court dismissed the application to re-open the judgment, on the grounds that the relevant argument had not been raised before Flick J, had not been advanced at the hearing of the appeal, and in any case was without merit. The outcome is that the Council’s challenge to the validity of the Registrar’s notice has been unsuccessful. Accordingly, if the Council now fails to show why it should not be put under special administration, the Registrar may decide to do so.