The Supreme Court of the ACT dismissed an appeal against a magistrate's refusal to make a family violence order under s 34 of the Family Violence Act 2016 (ACT). The Court held that the magistrate afforded the appellant procedural fairness by listening to and considering his evidence, and that directing a represented party to allow their lawyer to conduct the case did not constitute a denial of procedural fairness. On the question of incompetent legal representation, the Court applied Birks, TKWJ and Nudd, holding that even if cross-examination on irrelevant matters (child support compliance, prior convictions) proceeded without objection, no miscarriage of justice resulted because the magistrate did not rely on that evidence and the appellant placed no further evidence before the appeal court that could have altered the outcome.
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