Cuthbert v Abbott & Ors

[2023] QCA 139

Queensland Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Associations and Clubs
2. › Unincorporated voluntary associations
3. › Political parties
4. › Jurisdiction of the courts
5. › Interference in internal management
6. › Whether internal membership disputes justiciable
7. › Whether constituent documents disclosed intention to create legal relations
8. › ALP National Constitution cl 2
1. Contract
2. › Formation
3. › Intention to create legal relations
4. › Objective assessment
5. › Constituent documents of unincorporated voluntary association
6. › Express provision that arrangements binding in honour only
7. › Whether membership of political party gives rise to contractual rights
1. Appeal
2. › Fresh evidence on appeal
3. › Whether evidence could have been obtained with reasonable diligence
4. › Whether evidence would probably have important impact on result
5. › UCPR r 766
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Intermediate appellate courts
3. › Obligation to follow decisions of intermediate appellate courts of other jurisdictions
4. › Unless convinced interpretation plainly wrong
5. › Farah Constructions Pty Ltd v Say-Dee Pty Ltd (2007) 230 CLR 89

Quick Take

Internal membership disputes within the ALP (and by extension other unincorporated political parties with similar constitutional provisions) remain non-justiciable in Queensland courts. Clause 2 of the ALP National Constitution, which provides that arrangements are 'only binding in honour', is an effective bar to claims based on contractual rights arising from membership. The reasoning in Baldwin v Everingham, which had distinguished Cameron v Hogan on the basis of statutory recognition of political parties, must now be regarded as overtaken by Camenzuli v Morrison.