Appeals Tribunal: Is Professor Terry Hughes Also Compromised?
Orlando Habet
News 5 has confirmed that hotelier Lucy Fleming has written to Judge Farnese declining the appointment to the appeals tribunal, citing her own reasons for doing so. In the case of Professor Terrence “Terry” Hughes, he is also on public record opposing dredging, as well as developments near reefs. So the claimants have expressed that not only are these appointments viewed as acts of bad faith, but they also reflect an arbitrary and unfair exercise of ministerial authority, carried out for an improper purpose and in violation of Waterloo’s right to protection of law as provided under the constitution. The tribunal, as it is configured, is also infected with bias and will perhaps breach the company’s right to protection of the law, including Waterloo’s fundamental right to natural justice. In an interview earlier this week, Minister Habet was pressed on the role and guidelines of the three-person tribunal.
Reporter
“What would you say of the perception that a three-person tribunal usurps, in a way, the twenty-person NEAC, a committee with much more members than three person. What would you say about that perception in the public and the criticism that has come forward?”
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
“I believe that it would have to do more with what the tribunal is going to look at because if they are going to look at the technical part completely and then try to re-establish what was being discussed or reviewed at the technical level then possibly you’d be saying, well you’re looking at three persons versus fourteen or fifteen who sat at the NEAC. But if they are going to look at the process itself of whether or not it was fair, if it went through a legal process then that is something else and maybe one person can do that. We see that in the courts where one judge makes a decision over whatever matters have gone to him or her.”
Reporter
“And there is no guidelines set out by the government to determine what would be looked at by the tribunal physically. Will those members determine that guideline?”
Orlando Habet
“Right. According to the law, [the tribunal] led by the person who leads the tribunal, who is the judge, they will decide on the processes.”
