Judgments of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on Proceedings to Review Aspects of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Erebus Aircraft Disaster: C.A. 95/81New Zealand. Court of Appeal
History
Judgments of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on Proceedings to Review Aspects of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Erebus Aircraft Disaster: C.A. 95/81
New Zealand. Court of Appeal
Air New Zealand; Aircraft accidents; New Zealand. Royal Commission to Inquire into the Crash on Mount Erebus, Antarctica, of a DC10 Aircraft Operated by Air New Zealand Limited
The arguments on the other side were presented chiefly by Mr Baragwanath
and Mr Harrison, who had been counsel assisting the Commission and
appeared in this Court for the Attorney-General, not to advance any view
on behalf of the Government but to ensure that nothing that could
possibly be said in answer to the contentions of Mr Brown and Mr
Williams for the applicants was left unsaid before the Court. This was
done because it has not been usual for a person in the position of the
Commissioner to take an active part in litigation concerning his report.
Mr Barton, who appeared for the Commissioner, did not present any
argument, adopting a watching role. He indicated that he would only have
played an active role if the Commissioner had been required for
cross-examination. As already mentioned, it was agreed otherwise. At
that stage the Commissioner, by his counsel, very properly stated that
he would abide the decision of the Court.
Mr Baragwanath's submissions were to the general effect that the Court
had no jurisdiction to interfere with the opinions expressed in the
Commission's report, which were not 'findings' and bound no one; and
that in any event they were conclusions within the Commissioner's
powers, open to him on the evidence and arrived at without any breach of
natural justice.
We now set out the various paragraphs under attack, bearing in mind that
they cannot properly be considered in isolation from the context in the
report. The paragraphs vary in importance, but it is convenient to take
them in the numerical order of the report. We will indicate as regards
each paragraph or set of paragraphs the essence of the complaint. After
doing this we will state how we propose to deal with the complaints.
Destruction of Documents
Paragraphs 45 and 54, which affect particularly the chief executive at
the time of the crash, Morrison Ritchie Davis, are as follows:
45. The reaction of the chief executive was immediate. He
determined that no word of this incredible blunder was to become
publicly known. He directed that all documents relating to
antarctic flights, and to this flight in particular, were to be
collected and impounded. They were all to be put on one single file
which would remain in strict custody. Of these documents all those
which were not directly relevant were to be destroyed. They were to
be put forthwith through the company's shredder.
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