Appeal court overturns Federal Circuit Court judge Sandy Street’s decision

Federal Circuit Court judge Sandy Street has had more than 70 judgments overturned.

Judge Sandy Street and his fomer wife Sally.

A federal judge repeatedly found to throw out cases without giving proper reasons for his decisions or without properly considering the cases that come before him has had another case overturned on appeal.

Federal Circuit Court judge Sandy Street has had more than 70 judgments overturned in less than five years. He was found last week to have failed to properly consider fundamental aspects of a case brought by a Tamil asylum-seeker.

The asylum-seeker, from Sri Lanka’s north, had arrived in Australia by boat in October 2012. He told immigration authorities that before he left, he had been working as a fisherman when members of the Sri Lankan navy boarded his boat and mistreated him. Subsequently, his friend was abducted and needed hospital treatment in an attack he believed had been intended for him.

The man launched Federal Circuit Court proceedings after his claim for a protection visa was denied, however Judge Street rejected the application.

Federal Court judge Anthony Besanko found that in throwing out the man’s case, Judge Street “did not engage in the relevant sense” with his claims.

“With respect, it seems to me that the statements by the primary judge … are, for the most part, assertions rather than a process of reasoning,” he said.

In relation to one of the grounds of appeal, he said Judge Street had either confused the requirements set out in a section of the Migration Act and “run them together”, or had “failed to identify” his reasoning properly.

In his judgment, Justice ­Besanko referred to four other cases in which Judge Street was found to have constructively failed to exercise the court’s jurisdiction properly — either failing “to deliver adequate reasons” or “to consider fundamental aspects of an appellant’s case”.

He sent the case back to the Immigration Assessment Authority to be reconsidered.

Judge Street — whose father, Sir Laurence, grandfather and great-grandfather were NSW chief justices — was appointed to the bench by the Coalition on January 1, 2015. Since that time, he has managed to finalise a large number of cases. In one 26-month period he disposed of about 1370 cases, while the other eight Sydney general federal law judges combined, disposed of just 2290 cases. Many of his judgments have been delivered “ex tempore” or on the spot. He has had many more cases upheld on appeal than overturned.

However, in a case last year, Federal Court judge Robert Bromwich said the “perceived ­efficiency” of using “ex tempore” judgments could be “illusory” and cause the final resolution of a dispute to “be delayed rather than accelerated”. He said when they were used “inadequately or inappropriately”, the quality of justice delivered could “fall below acceptable standards”.

In that case, Judge Street was found to have “failed to give adequate reasons, and in places reached conclusions that were plainly wrong”, when he threw out a claim brought by a teacher denied a promised termination payment.