Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth), applications for exclusion from restraining orders under s 31 must be determined before forfeiture applications under s 49 are heard and determined. A court cannot adopt a sequence that would render s 31 exclusion applications purposeless. General notions of fairness about requiring the state to 'go first' do not override the statutory scheme. This construction has since been confirmed by the insertion of s 315A(2) by the 2016 amendments, but the decision remains relevant to proceedings commenced before that amendment.
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