CTC RESOURCES NL v FC of T
Members:Mason CJ
Deane J
Gaudron J
Tribunal:
Full High Court of Australia
Mason CJ [Delivering the judgment of the Court after hearing argument]
Appeals in these matters would be from orders made unanimously by a Full Court of the Federal Court. They would involve questions of the construction of complicated provisions of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth). Subject to the qualification mentioned below, they would not give rise to any important matters of general principle in respect of which there is dispute between the parties which is of immediate practical significance in the present case. That is not, of course, to deny that, as Mr Beaumont QC has demonstrated, there are serious practical difficulties in the working of the scheme for private rulings.
The qualification which we have mentioned relates to the construction of the words ``person... dissatisfied'' in s. 14ZZ of the Taxation Administration Act. The construction of those words requires reference, as a contextual consideration, to the settled principle that, under our Constitution, the jurisdiction to grant declaratory relief which can legitimately be conferred on a federal court must be directed to the determination of legal controversies and not to answering merely abstract or hypothetical questions: see, for example,
Ainsworth & Anor v. Criminal Justice Commission (1991-1992) 175 CLR 564 at 582. In relation to that particular question of construction, however, we consider that the conclusion of the Federal Court to the effect that a person is not relevantly ``dissatisfied'' if the particular decision is merely abstract or hypothetical in character is not attended by sufficient doubt to warrant a grant of special leave to appeal.
ATC 4235
Accordingly, the applications for special leave to appeal are refused.
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