Assembly Policies

PRESIDENTIAL RULING NO. 22

I have been requested by you as the Moderator of the Synod of Western Australia to give a ruling in accordance with Regulation 3.6.14 as to whether the decisions of the Appeal Committee convened under Regulation 7.7.17 conformed to the relevant Regulations, and regarding the interpretation of those Regulations.

The respondent to two complaints of sexual misconduct had appealed under Regulation 7.7.17 on the ground that the Synod Sexual Misconduct Complaints Committee (“SSMCC”) had acted contrary to the principles of natural justice in both cases. The Appeal Committee concluded that it was reasonable for the respondent to have an apprehension of bias on the part of one or more members of the SSMCC who had been appointed pursuant to Regulation 7.7.12(a) and 7.7.6(h) to deal with the particular complaints and that that bias was a breach of the principles of natural justice. The Appeal Committee therefore upheld the appeals and remitted the complaints to the SSMCC for reconsideration.

The Appeal Committee also made its decisions to remit on other grounds which, in my opinion, did not relate to "the principles of natural justice", or breaches of those principles, and which were therefore not within the province of the Appeal Committee. The Appeal Committee's decisions on those grounds do not impugn its decisions on the issue of bias.

In addition to remitting the complaints to the SSMCC, the Appeal Committee made other "orders" relating to the first and second complaints which, in my opinion, were not within the province of the Appeal Committee. I find that those "orders" should not stand. The Appeal Committee's responsibility on the question whether there had been a breach of the principles of natural justice was either to dismiss the appeal or, if it upheld the appeal, to remit the complaint for reconsideration.

Nevertheless, it is appropriate for me to comment that, since the Appeal Committee found that it was reasonable for the respondent to have had an apprehension of bias on the part of one or more of those members of the SSMCC who convened to deal with the complaints, it is desirable that the members of the SSMCC who must now be convened to deal with the complaints, should be different persons from the members who comprised the SSMCC from which the appeals arose.

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