Guidelines Part 3 - Matter Type Guidelines State Civil Law Matter Type Guidelines Public Interest Cases| Public Interest Cases |
Guideline: State
Number: Effective Date: Law: State Civil |
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| 1.0 | Applications for Assistance | ||
| 1.1 | These guidelines apply to all litigation involving an identifiable public interest, including: | ||
| a. | Applications to the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal, in respect of environmental, planning, fisheries or mining appeals. | ||
| b. | Proceedings before the Land Use Planning Review Panel. | ||
| c. | Test cases in the Supreme Court or Courts of Petty Sessions run in circumstances where a particular criminal law is challenged. | ||
| d. | Applications to the Supreme Court arising from a claim that an administrative body or other decision maker has exceeded its jurisdiction or erred in law. | ||
| e. | Applications to the Federal Court under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act. | ||
| f. | Representative or class actions brought in the Federal or Supreme Courts. | ||
| 1.2 | While there is no limitation as to the type of case in which a public interest may arise, any application for assistance involving environmental issues must have first been lodged with the office of the Environmental Defender and dealt with by that office before it will be considered by the Commission. Further, public interest cases are the subject of a limit on annual expenditure and applications will be refused if the fund available at the time is insufficient to meet the case the subject of the application, or will be in the view of the Legal Aid Committee likely exhaust the fund to the detriment of cases with more merit that may be received later. | ||
| 1.3 | Subject to paragraphs 1.4 and 1.5 applications for legal assistance in such cases will be determined by a Legal Aid Committee constituted under Part 3, Legal Aid Commission Act 1990. | ||
| 1.4 | In public interest cases deemed by the Director to be urgent, interim assistance may be granted by the Director. However, grants of aid in public interest cases shall be referred by the Director to a Legal Aid Committee as soon as practicable. | ||
| 1.5 | In cases where advice from Counsel is required before the merits of any public interest case can be determined, the Director may authorise a grant of legal assistance for that purpose. | ||
| 2.0 | Definition of Public Interest | ||
| 2.1 | A public interest case is one involving the determination of a question, whether of a legal or factual nature, which in the opinion of the Legal Aid Committee is of public importance. | ||
| 2.2 | In this guideline the words "public importance" includes matters that further the cultural, environmental, social, economic or artistic worth of the community or of a section of the community. | ||
| 2.3 | The fact that a private interest also stands to be protected or furthered as a result of the litigation will not preclude the existence of a public interest for the purpose of these guidelines. | ||
| 3.0 | Procedure for making application | ||
| a. | Aid is available to individuals and groups (whether incorporated or unincorporated). | ||
| b. | Unincorporated groups should submit applications for legal assistance completed by the individual members and, if the group has assets, by the treasurer on behalf of the group. | ||
| c. | Individuals should apply for legal aid in the normal way. | ||
| d. | Incorporated organisations shall submit their most recent statement of accounts, together with applications forms from individual members of the group. | ||
| e. | The application in any case must be accompanied by an outline of the circumstances involved in the matter, together with a statement identifying the public interest involved. | ||
| f. | If the applicant(s) has already contributed financially or if proceedings have already commenced, details of action taken and monies expended should be provided. | ||
| g. | All relevant documents/plans should be included with the explanation. | ||