CHRONOLOGY
12 Before considering the several applications a chronology needs to be set out.
13 On 30 November 1999 a legal officer provided the reviewing authority with his report pursuant to s 154 of the DFD Act about the conviction and penalty on 4 November 1999 by the DFM. The conviction and punishment were upheld by the reviewing authority.
14 A petition for a further review was sought. The report dated 16 June 2000, provided by a Reviewing Judge Advocate, supported the conviction but concluded that error had entered into the sentencing process. On 31 August 2000, the applicant was informed by the Deputy Chief of Army of the outcome of the review, of the resultant new sentence and that an investigation was being conducted into his allegation of misconduct by the legal officers in respect of his prosecution. Subsequently, on 15 February 2001, he was informed that no evidence of misconduct had been found.
15 On 27 February 2001 the applicant was convicted in the Adelaide Magistrates Court of common assault on a person in police custody and discharged from the police service in November that year. The applicant contends he was wrongly convicted.
16 On 27 March 2001 the applicant forwarded an unsigned copy of a proposed notice of appeal to the Defence Legal Centre in Adelaide. This was forwarded to the Tribunal and received in the registry on 17 April 2001. The time for lodging an appeal or application for leave to appeal is set out in s 21(2) of the Defence Force Discipline Appeals Act 1955 (Cth) ("the DFDA Act"). It is the earlier of two nominated dates, namely:
"(2) … the period of 30 days commencing immediately after:
(a) the day on which the results of a review under section 152 of [the DFD Act] of the proceedings are notified to the convicted person …; or
(b) the last day of the period of 30 days after the conviction …"
17 Whichever date was employed, the applicant was well out of time for filing an appeal and required an extension of time. The application for the extension of time was heard by Heerey J, the then President of the Tribunal.
18 His Honour summarised the proposed grounds of appeal as follows:
"The proposed notice of appeal alleges, amongst other things, that there was a miscarriage of justice or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by senior Army Legal Corps officers. It is said that the DFM 'erred in law by not understanding the appellant's changed mental state', that he did not 'alert his mind to joint criminal enterprise' (this being an alleged conspiracy by prosecution witnesses), that he 'did not alert his mind to the admissions of the hard evidence against the applicant' and the fact that there 'may have been collusion/misconduct between the prosecution and defence teams to process corruption, namely fabrication of evidence and suppression of evidence' and that he erred in law by 'not alerting his mind to or allowing a sham DFM trial to take place': see Ferdinands v Chief of the Army [2001] ADFDAT 2 at 3 [12].
19 His Honour had directed the Registrar of the Tribunal to advise the applicant that the respondent opposed the granting of an extension of time on the grounds of excessive delay in filing the notice of appeal, the lack of any reasonable explanation for that delay and want of merit. Any further affidavits or written material upon which the applicant wished to rely were directed to be filed within a particular time.
20 Justice Heerey noted that the applicant's document headed "Extension of Time" generally repeated the allegations of conspiracy, but did not provide an explanation for the delay. His Honour concluded that the appeal was without merit, noting that the original hearing involved a straight forward factual dispute and that questions of credit were central to the case. He concluded that the careful findings of the DFM did not disclose any arguable defect.
21 The applicant appealed that decision. That appeal was filed some days out of time but there was no opposition to the Tribunal extending time. The applicant was represented at that hearing. The Tribunal, constituted by the Deputy President, Underwood J, and Members Mildren and Duggan JJ, gave some attention to the wording of s 21 of the DFDA Act and the unsatisfactory nature of the time periods allowed: see Ferdinands v Chief of Army [2002] ADFDAT 3. The Tribunal noted that the notice was not filed until almost seven months after the date of notification of the result of the review and almost seventeen months after the date of conviction. The Tribunal concluded that the period of delay was lengthy and, accordingly, any explanation for it needed to be scrutinised closely.
22 The Tribunal held that the proper approach to an extension of time in circumstances like the present where a discretion is conferred to extend time beyond the statutory limit was that enunciated by Mc Hugh J in Gallo v Dawson [1990] HCA 30; (1990) 93 ALR 479. His Honour said (at 480) that the discretion can only be exercised in favour of an applicant "upon proof that strict compliance … will work an injustice upon the applicant". The factors which are relevant are the history of the proceedings, the conduct of the parties, the nature of the litigation and the consequences for the parties of the grant or refusal of the extension of time. Where the application is for an extension of time within which to file an appeal "it is always necessary to consider the prospects of the applicant succeeding in the appeal".
23 The Tribunal concluded that the material placed before it did not disclose a satisfactory explanation as to why the notification of the appeal was so late.
24 The Tribunal then considered the prospects of success should an extension be granted. The Tribunal canvassed the evidence led before the DFM. As appears from the Tribunal's reasons at [23], the principal criticism which the applicant advanced in respect of the DFM's reasoning was that, having dismissed the first charge, the DFM should not have found that the evidence in relation to the second charge was of sufficient reliability on which to base a conviction - an argument which the applicant continues to advance. The Tribunal examined carefully whether, in effect, there were inconsistent verdicts which could not stand together. Having surveyed the evidence the Tribunal concluded, applying the principles expounded in M v The Queen [1994] HCA 63; (1994) 181 CLR 487 at 494, that a court would inevitably conclude that no miscarriage of justice had occurred.
25 The Tribunal also considered an argument that had not been raised before the DFM, namely, that the DFM should have found that the incident involved in the second charge may have been the result of innocent "horse play". This had never been suggested below, particularly in light of the applicant's contention that he was not present. The Tribunal concluded that the evidence of witnesses left no room for that new construction. Other arguments were rejected. The Tribunal concluded, at [29]:
"In summary, therefore, it is our view that no satisfactory reason has been advanced for the lengthy delay in lodging the appeal. This consideration, coupled with the apparent absence of merit in the proposed grounds of appeal, lead us to the conclusion that the extension of time within which to appeal was rightly rejected."
26 The applicant filed a notice of appeal on 9 September 2002 in the Federal Court from the decision of the Tribunal dismissing the appeal from Heerey J. He also filed a motion for discovery of information. The latter was heard and dismissed by von Doussa J on 18 December 2002. The Full Court of the Federal Court (Spender, Ryan, Dowsett and Selway JJ) heard the appeal in Adelaide on 11 February 2003 and gave its decision that day: see Ferdinands v Chief of Army [2003] FCAFC 9. The Full Court dismissed the appeal on the ground that there was no prospect of success, and upon the further ground that there would be no prejudice to the applicant in dismissing the appeal for want of prosecution. The Full Court noted that s 52 of the DFDA Act permitted an appeal to the Federal Court only on a question of law. The Full Court upheld von Doussa J's decision against the application for further information because that information was not before the Tribunal.
27 The Chief of Army had filed a notice of motion on 7 February 2003 seeking orders that the applicant's appeal from the decision of the Tribunal be dismissed for want of prosecution. The applicant had been directed by the Court that failure to comply with the rules of court about a draft index and the preparation of appeal books could lead to the appeal being dismissed.
28 The applicant had attempted to file a document seeking to have a question of law reserved to the Full Court of the Federal Court - something which he seeks on this application, although on a different question. While the applicant indicated that he did not have the means to prepare appeal books, the Full Court understood that he wished to have the question of law determined before his appeal.
29 The question of law which the applicant wished to have determined related to the constitutional validity of the exercise of judicial power by Defence Force Magistrates.
30 Justice Spender, with whom the other members of the Court agreed, considered whether that issue, that is, the constitutional status of DFMs, might provide an arguable ground of appeal. After reviewing the cases concluding with Re Tyler and Anor ex parte Foley [1994] HCA 25; (1994) 181 CLR 18, his Honour concluded that it did not. Finally, his Honour said at [36]:
"This is a case where it has been demonstrated that Mr Ferdinands has abstained from prosecuting his appeal with due diligence, for reasons which he submits are sound. However, impecuniosity is not a basis upon which a person is relieved of the obligation to prosecute his appeal with due diligence. Realistically, there are no prospects of success in the foreshadowed appeal, nor any arguable basis for the "questions of law" which Mr Ferdinands had indicated he wanted to canvass before the Full Court. It follows then that there is no injustice in dismissing the appeal for want of prosecution."
31 The Full Court considered the applicant's prospects of success on any appeal. After detailed reference to the reasons of this Tribunal dismissing the appeal from Heerey J's refusal to grant an extension of time within which to appeal, the Court concluded that the applicant had no prospects of success: see Ferdinands v Chief of Army [2003] FCAFC 10.
32 On 6 March 2003 the applicant filed an application for special leave to appeal this decision to the High Court. He failed to prosecute his application and on 1 October 2003 the High Court issued a certificate of deemed abandonment.
33 Subsequently a delegate of the Chief of Army decided on 30 November 2004 to terminate the applicant's service in the Australian Army. The applicant now contends that a reason for the conspiracy to charge him in 1999 was to facilitate his discharge from the Army. However, the five years which elapsed in giving effect to any plan might militate against such an inference, if there were thought to be any basis for the applicant's contention.
34 On 17 March 2006 the applicant filed an application in the High Court seeking an extension of time within which to apply to show cause why the constitutional writs of mandamus and certiorari should not issue in relation to that decision. Those proceedings were remitted on 4 May 2007 to the South Australian Registry of the Federal Court. The respondent sought to have the application struck out as disclosing no reasonable cause of action.
35 The application by the respondent and the applicant's application for an extension of time came on before Lander J on 3 December 2008. His Honour concluded that the writs were sought because the applicant wanted orders against the Department of Defence that it answer "all correspondence sent by [Mr Ferdinands] with regards to full and complete discovery and disclosure in these legal issues of appeal" and that he be permitted to proceed "unhindered and unimpeded" to complete his appeal in respect of the conviction by the DFM in 1999: see Ferdinands v Chief of Army [2008] FCA 1865 at [6].
36 The applicant admitted to his Honour that he wished to use the writ proceedings in the High Court to overturn the convictions in the South Australian Magistrates' Court and by the DFM. It was found, thus, to be an abuse of process. His Honour concluded that no proper explanation had been given for the delay and there were no prospects of the applicant succeeding. For these reasons, the application to extend time was refused.
37 An application for leave to appeal that decision was dismissed by Mansfield J on 20 January 2009: see Ferdinands v Chief of Army [2009] FCA 22.