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Key decisions

  • Chief Executive Officer, Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority v Director of National Parks [2024] HCA 16
  • The King v Hatahet [2024] HCA 23
  • Greylag Goose Leasing 1410 Designated Activity Company v PT Garuda Indonesia Ltd [2024] HCA 21

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

Imposition of criminal liability on body politic

In Chief Executive Officer, Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority v Director of National Parks [2024] HCA 16 (8 May 2024), the High Court allowed an appeal from the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Northern Territory and held that the Director of National Parks (‘DNP’) could be criminally liable for carrying out works on a sacred site. Section 34(1) of the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act 1989 (NT) (‘Sacred Sites Act’) prohibits carrying out work on a ‘sacred site’ within the meaning of the Aboriginal Land Rites (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth).

The central question for the High Court was whether the DNP, established under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (‘EPBCA’), was entitled to benefit from the presumption stated in Cain v Doyle (1946) 72 CLR 409 and therefore able to avoid criminal liability for a breach of the prohibition under s 34 of the Sacred Sites Act. The DNP is established as a body corporate under s 514E(1)(a) of the EPBCA.

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