Apprehension of bias in Tribunal’s conduct

In a recent Federal Court case, a finding was made that an Applicant had been denied procedural fairness as the conduct of the Senior Member at the Tribunal gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The conduct included the number of times and the nature in which the Tribunal intervened in closing submissions which indicated that the Tribunal had self-persuaded itself as to the outcome of the case even before the hearing had ended.