The Court granted summary judgment dismissing a self-represented plaintiff's judicial review application challenging a Magistrate's refusal to grant a rehearing of a family violence intervention order under s 122 of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic). The Court held that the plaintiff's primary ground impermissibly sought merits review of the Magistrate's decision rather than identifying legal error, and that the Magistrate was entitled to hear from Victoria Police (through a different prosecutor) and the protected person's counsel as they were parties to the proceeding under s 4 of the FVPA. The plaintiff's complaints about the Magistrate weighing his delay in bringing the rehearing application went to the merits of the decision, not to any denial of procedural fairness.
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