The appellant was charged for failing to comply with a Building Order, contrary to section 115 of the Building Act 2011 (WA), and was convicted before Magistrate Potter at trial. In Backshall v The City of Greater Geraldton [2016] WASC 347 he sought leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the magistrate’s decision, on the following grounds:
Martino J found that there was no basis for any allegation of apprehended bias “because he was paid by the same paymaster as the council and both are servants of a trading corporation.”, and that:
“Grounds of appeal 1 – 5 are vexatious and have no basis in law. It is well settled that the Magistrates Court has authority to determine cases brought before it under Western Australian statutes: Hedley v Spivey [2012] WASCA 116 and the cases referred to in that decision by McLure P.”
As none of the grounds of appeal had any reasonable prospect of succeeding, leave to appeal was refused and the appeal dismissed.