A High Court challenge against the Queensland government’s constitutional right to keep the state’s borders closed has been described as a “fishing expedition”.

June 10, 2020

A legal challenge against the constitutional right of the Queensland government to keep the state’s borders closed amid the coronavirus crisis has hit a snag.

Chief Justice Susan Kiefel described part of the challenge by a group of tourism operators as a fishing expedition.

Lawyers for the Travel Essence challenge applied to access the information Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young assessed when the decision was made to close the borders in March.

Guy Reynolds SC told the High Court in Brisbane on Wednesday there was a public interest in the documents being seen and they could be of “critical relevance”.

But Chief Justice Kiefel refused the application saying it was “par excellence a fishing expedition” the court would not be a party to.

“There is no basis for the making of an order for the documents to be produced,” she said.

She also warned Mr Reynolds that wasting two days on the refused application risked delaying the matter being heard with two other challenges later in June.

Mr Reynolds also earned a rebuke from Chief Justice Kiefel for saying he was suspicious there was no information available because none was assessed.

She accused him of making statements like that for the media’s benefit, and said that the request for the material was not important compared to the constitutional elements of the challenge.

The Travel Essence challenge was ordered to pay the cost of the failed application, which Solicitor-General for the State of Queensland, Gavin Thompson QC, described as having no proper basis.

The matter will return to court for a directions hearing alongside two challenges by billionaire businessman Clive Palmer on Friday.

Mr Palmer is challenging border closures in Queensland and Western Australia.

The Travel Essence group of tourism operators is understood to be arguing the Queensland closures are causing them financial harm.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has previously refused to reverse her decision to keep the borders closed, saying she’s keeping Queenslanders safe.