APY general manager Richard King loses Full Court appeal on inquiry
APY general manager Richard King’s bid to convince the state’s highest court to overturn an ombudsman finding has failed, the latest in a series of unsuccessful legal battles in recent years.
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The state’s highest court has quashed a bid by APY general manager Richard King to overturn an Ombudsman’s investigation critical of his conduct.
The decision by the Full Court of the Supreme Court is likely to result in costs of tens of thousands of dollars being awarded against APY – adding to the already hefty legal bill from its other failed Supreme Court appeals in recent years.
The Full Court appeal related to an investigation by Ombudsman Wayne Lines into a complaint by former APY executive member Trevor Adamson over Mr King’s conduct as general manager.
Mr Adamson alleged Mr King had failed to provide him with access to handwritten notes of APY board meetings held between July 2016 and March 2017, that minutes of other board meetings were not accurate and correct procedures for adopting them were not adhered to.
While Mr Lines upheld the first complaint, the latter two were not upheld. During his investigation, Mr Lines also slammed Mr King’s conduct for failing to provide documents he requested in a timely manner. Mr King contended the Ombudsman had no jurisdiction to conduct the investigation. He took Supreme Court action to have it overturned and halt another investigation Mr Lines was also conducting. But Justice Trish Kelly dismissed his application.
In his appeal to the Full Court, Mr King challenged Justice Kelly’s dismissal of his claim for judicial review, contending she erred in holding the Ombudsman was not prevented from conducting his investigation under the Ombudsman’s Act and that his adverse findings were not affected by jurisdictional error.
In the Full Court judgment, Justice Sam Doyle stated the court had jurisdiction to determine if the Ombudsman could conduct the investigation.
It stated Mr King had not established that the Ombudsman either failed to take into account “a relevant consideration in making the adverse findings, or that they were otherwise unreasonable”.
Following the judgement Mr King said: “While APY respects the decision of the Full Court it is disappointed by the judgment and will take the necessary time to fully review and understand the findings.’’
“It is important to note that APY is not funded or resourced in any way to run or maintain a Freedom of Information unit. When a small land council like APY is inundated with politically motivated FOI requests from one disgruntled party there are significant consequences,’’ he said.
Originally published as APY general manager Richard King loses Full Court appeal on inquiry