Lower Court Judgment
15/02/2013 Supreme Court of New South Wales (Court of Criminal Appeal) (Bathurst CJ, Allsop P, McClellan CJ at CL, Hall J, Bellew J)
Catchwords
Constitutional law – Criminal law – Mandatory minimum sentences – Appellant convicted of people smuggling contrary to s 233C of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (“the Act”) – s 236B of the Act prescribed a mandatory minimum penalty of 5 years imprisonment – Whether s 236B of the Act requires the exercise of the judicial power of the Commonwealth in a manner inconsistent with its nature – Whether s 236B(3) of the Act when read with ss 233A(1) and 233C(1) authorises the executive government to direct the outcome of the exercise of the court’s federal jurisdiction to sentence offenders – Whether s 236B(3) is therefore invalid as contrary to Ch III of the Constitution.
07/06/2013 Hearing (SLA, Sydney)
17/06/2013 Notice of appeal
12/07/2013 Written submissions (Appellant)
12/07/2013 Chronology (Appellant)
02/08/2013 Written submissions (Respondent)
02/08/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General of the Commonwealth intervening)
06/08/2013 Written submissions (Australian Human Rights Commission seeking leave to appear as amicus curiae)
09/08/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General for the State of New South Wales intervening)
09/08/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General for the State of South Australia intervening)
09/08/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General for the State of Western Australia intervening)
16/08/2013 Reply
16/08/2013 Reply to Australian Human Rights Commission's submissions (Attorney-General of the Commonwealth intervening)
23/08/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General of the State of Queensland intervening)
03/09/2013 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra)
11/10/2013 Judgment (Judgment summary)
