He had previously been found guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court of unauthorised camping after sleeping in his car in an unrestricted carpark, and was conditionally released on a good behaviour order for six months.

The ABC reports that the man appealed the ACT Magistrates Court decision, with his main complaint being that he was not camping and therefore should not have been found guilty.

In the initial case, the prosecution said the incident constituted camping because the man was sleeping in his car for at least some of the period between 1am and 5am.

However, the ABC reports that ACT Supreme Court Justice Verity McWilliam’s judgement found the conduct in question did not constitute camping and, since that was an essential element of the offence, the man should not have been found guilty.

In her judgement, Justice McWilliam said on the morning of January 4, 2023, the man’s car was parked in the National Rock Garden carpark on the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin.

About 1am police warned the man he could not camp there. He was then found by police at 5am asleep in the car, which was parked in the same place it had been four hours earlier.

Police had also previously seen the man on December 30, 2022, at the same location, but no evidence was given to suggest the car had been continuously parked there from that date.

The ABC reports that, in the witness box for his appeal, the man admitted his car was parked at the National Rock Garden carpark ‘on the night from 3 January, crossing into 4 January, 2023’.

He said when he was directed to move on by police at 1am he did so, walking away from the car, but some point in the following hours he returned to shelter from the cold, and was in the car when police returned at 5am.

The ABC reports that the original magistrate who found the man guilty used a combination of two definitions of camping from online dictionaries for the case, which was accepted by the parties at the time.

The accepted definition for that initial case was ‘the act of staying and sleeping in an outside area for one or more days and nights, usually in a tent and usually for enjoyment’.

But in her judgment, Justice McWilliam found that even if the hybrid definition adopted for the case was consented to by the parties, the magistrate’s method of defining camping was flawed.

The ABC reports that she said starting with a hybrid of two dictionary definitions, adopting it as the ordinary meaning, then beginning a detailed search through legislative history to see if there was anything contradicting that meaning ‘was not the correct approach’.

“In short, this case is not about parking a vehicle on national land; it is about camping on national land,” Justice McWilliam said in her judgment.

She said that meant the prosecution in his initial case had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the man had committed that element of the offence, so he must be acquitted.

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WIN A MAP MY LAP CUSTOMISABLE COTTON MAP

Grey Nomad members are being given the opportunity to win one of four Map My Lap cotton maps (each valued at $70) that enable adventurers to stitch, draw or bead their Big Lap route to create a permanent and personalised artwork reminder of their trip.

The 1m x 1m map of Australia is made from thick organic cotton and has a 2cm seam running across the top for easy hanging. And Map My Lap can be used time and time again! With each trip, users can simply stitch the roads they’ve travelled using different coloured threads. It is available in two colour options: one with light-coloured roads; and the other with dark grey roads.

Click here to find out more about GN membership, the prize, and how to enter.

Members: If you wish to enter, please click here.