Senior Party Officials

John and his team recently successfully advised and acted for the now former Prime Minister, the NSW Premier, the federal president of the Liberal Party of Australia and another senior party official In high profile expedited proceedings in the New South Wales Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia. The proceedings involved an urgent challenge to the powers and validity of the actions of a Committee (comprising the Prime Minister, the NSW Premier and one other) appointed by the Liberal Party Federal Executive to take over the management of the party’s NSW Division and make the “captains’ picks” for party endorsement of candidates in 12 House of Representative seats located in NSW. The NSW Court of Appeal unanimously ruled in favour of John’s clients and the High Court refused the plaintiff special leave to appeal clearing the way for the 2022 Federal election to be called. The judgement of the Court of Appeal clarifies the law and is now one of the leading precedents on the justiciability of disputes arising out of the rules/constitutions of unincorporated political parties in Australia. Camenzuli v Morrison [2022] NSWCA 51.