What happened at the last Court hearing against the Electoral Commission and Onkaparinga Council on 26 May 2023

We had a hearing on Friday 26 May in the Court of Disputed Returns.

I had a new barrister and he put in a good performance.

This hearing was primarily for him to make submissions against the Electoral Commission’s arguments that our case be thrown out.

Section 71(4) of the Local Government (Elections) Act 1999 states;
“The Court must act according to good conscience and the substantial merits of the case without regard to legal technicalities.”

The case went for over 2 ½ hours and it was all about technicalities; whether our original application was deficient in detail, form and particularity not capable of being remedied.

At the end Judge Davison reserved her ruling and said that she would deliver it at the next Hearing on Friday 16th June 2023 at 2pm, at the Sir Samuel Way Building at 241-259 Victoria Square, Adelaide.

The ruling would be either that our application be struck out or be allowed to go forward to trial. Is there a 3rd option?

Everything hinges on the outcome of this next hearing.

There was one reporter at the hearing last Friday and I have attached a copy of an article from The Advertiser of Monday 29th May 2023 on page 15, ‘Mayoral Challenge’.

This article was accurate and has given us/me our most favorable portrayal yet.

This email therefore becomes a call to everyone to come and support these efforts on 16th June. We need more people to sit in the public gallery, SILENT, than we have ever had before.

Although on the day of the hearing the Judgment would already have been formulated, they need to know the people are watching.