Reef oil spill court ruling overturned

A TOWNSVILLE magistrate has had a ruling overturned in the case of an international shipping company charged over a major oil spill along the Great Barrier Reef.

Magistrate Ross Mack last year presided over a hearing regarding charges against shipping company Globex Shipping S. A and ship master Kuk Hyun Jang over a major oil spill in the Townsville area in July 2015.

Authorities were notified of a spill on July 17 off Cape Upstart and by July 24 oil began to wash ashore on Palm Island, Hinchinbrook Island and other coastal areas, with the clean- up effort taking two weeks.

It’s alleged the oil came from the Globex Shipping’s cargo vessel Regina, which according to court documents has since been renamed the MV Kamenitza and sold to a Korean company.

On August 2, 2017, Mr Mack heard arguments in the Townsville Magistrates Court that the complaint and summons had not been lawfully served upon the company.

He ruled against Globex Shipping and adjourned the further hearing of the complaints but that hearing was delayed after the company took the matter to the Supreme Court.

Now Justice Peter Davis has made an order setting aside that ruling, declaring that the complaint and summons were not lawfully served and that without that being done, the Townsville Magistrates Court had no jurisdiction to proceed with witnesses.

The court heard on March 21 2017, the complaint and summons against Globex Shipping as well as those against Jang were served upon legal firm Thynne and Macartney and Monson Agencies, the last agent for the ship recorded on the Australian Border Force data base.

But a letter sent to the Townsville Magistrates Court in May 2017 by Thynne and Macartney said the firm did not have instructions to accept service of the complaints on behalf of either Globex Shipping or Jang. It also advised that Monson Agencies had been appointed as an agent of the ship on a single occasion in 2011.

Justice Davis concluded that Mr Mack had no power to proceed with the matter.