What’s in a name? Supreme Court rules on ‘Foxy’ Robinson Darwin airport hotel dispute

In his original ruling, the judge had referenced his ‘own knowledge after nearly 40 years in Darwin’ of Mr Robinson’s nickname, saying ‘I believe (it’s) because his hair was red’.

Prominent Darwin businessman and philanthropist John Robinson is well-know throughout the Territory by his nickname ‘Foxy’.

A long-running dispute between the Darwin Airport and business identity John “Foxy” Robinson has ended with a whimper, with the Northern Territory’s highest court “noting that neither party has had any significant measure of success”.

The airport took Mr Robinson’s company DIAH Pty Ltd to the Local Court in 2021 seeking vacant possession of land it had sub-leased to it to operate a short-term accommodation facility.

In August of that year, judge John Neill granted the airport’s application with costs but DIAH appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court on various legal grounds, including apprehended bias.

In his original ruling, Mr Neill had referenced his “own knowledge after nearly 40 years in Darwin”.

“John Robinson is widely known as ‘Foxy’ Robinson, I believe because his hair was red,” he said.

DIAH argued the comment showed the judge “had regard to matters not the subject of evidence, which were not matters which could permissibly be taken into account as judicial notice”.

“The appellant contends that the significance of Mr Robinson’s nickname is not the essence of the issue, but rather that this reference exposes the impermissible reasoning of the Local Court judge,” Justice Jenny Blokland said.

“It was put that the criticism of Mr Robinson’s credibility from the minimal evidence before his honour, coupled with this reference could foreseeably cause the hypothetical lay observer to question the decision making process.”

Despite upholding the appeal on the apprehended bias ground and two others, Justice Blokland declined to set aside the warrant as it had already “to some extent (been) complied with”.

The airport then appealed that ruling to the Court of Appeal, which last week overturned Justice Blokland’s ruling.

Former NT Airports CEO Ian Kew.

“The reasons the Local Court gave for rejecting Mr Robinson’s evidence as unreliable … are, in our view, detailed and cogent,” Justices Sonia Brownhill, Meredith Huntingford and John Reeves found.

“In that light, to conclude that the Local Court might have acted on some other unidentified and undisclosed reason would, in our view, attribute to the fair-minded observer an unduly cynical or suspicious mind.”

However the justices found Mr Neill had failed to afford DIAH procedural fairness in rejecting Mr Robinson’s evidence former airport chief executive Ian Kew had promised him “plenty of notice to remove the improvements” before seeking vacant possession.

The court set aside Mr Neill’s original order but did not order a retrial after both parties agreed it ”would be futile where vacant possession of the land was (already) provided”.

“In our view, this should be done despite the fact that the order has long since achieved its purpose, namely vacant possession of the land concerned,” they wrote.

“While that private controversy between the parties may have been quelled, the public interest in the integrity of the administration of justice has not been addressed.”

Originally published as What’s in a name? Supreme Court rules on ‘Foxy’ Robinson Darwin airport hotel dispute