The Court held that the State defendants (DPP (Qld), a state prosecutor, and the State of Queensland) were not privies in interest of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for the purpose of issue estoppel arising from findings made in a permanent stay application concerning a Commonwealth charge. Applying Tomlinson v Ramsey Food Processing Pty Ltd, the CDPP in opposing the stay application was exercising its own statutory power to enforce the Criminal Code (Cth) and did not represent the legal interests of the State defendants; at most, the CDPP and State defendants had different legal interests productive of a unity of outcome, which is insufficient to establish privity. The State defendants were therefore not bound by findings made in the stay proceedings and could plead defences and adduce evidence contradicting those findings.
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