Chief Executive Officer, Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority v Director of National Parks

Statutes – Construction – Presumptions – Imposition of criminal liability – Where Director of National Parks ("DNP") engaged contractor to perform construction works within "sacred site" under Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act 1989 (NT) ("Sacred Sites Act") – Where works undertaken without permission of "Authority Certificate" or "Minister's Certificate" under Sacred Sites Act – Where s 34(1) of Sacred Sites Act prohibits "[a] person" from carrying out work on or using sacred site and specifies criminal penalties for breach – Where DNP a body corporate pursuant to Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) – Where s 17 of Interpretation Act 1978 (NT) defines "person" to include body politic and body corporate – Where appellant charged DNP with offence against s 34(1) – Whether DNP can be criminally liable for breach of s 34(1) – Whether DNP entitled to benefit of presumption stated in Cain v Doyle (1946) 72 CLR 409 against imposition of criminal liability "upon the Crown" – Whether presumption stated in Cain v Doyle confined to presumption against construing statute to impose criminal liability on body politic.

Words and phrases – "bind the Crown", "body corporate", "body politic", "criminal liability", "Crown in right of", "person", "presumption", "privileges of the Crown", "sacred site", "statutory corporation".

Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth) – s 3(1).

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) – ss 514A, 514B, 514E.

National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 (Cth) – s 15.

Interpretation Act 1978 (NT) – ss 17, 24AA.

Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act 1989 (NT) – ss 3, 4, 34(1).