A prominent Australian lawyer has told the Suva High Court that two Fijian practitioners are seeking to overturn key findings of a Commission of Inquiry.

Appearing for the applicants, King’s Counsel Martin Daubney said lawyers Wylie Clarke and Laurel Vaurasi are challenging both the findings and recommendations in the report.

They are asking the court to quash those recommendations. They cite reputational harm and financial loss.

Daubney argued the Commissioner, appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1946, moved beyond the inquiry’s mandate. He said the terms of reference were narrow, but the report was not.

Instead, it made findings about Clarke and Vaurasi on matters they were never required to answer.

He told the court this amounted to a jurisdictional overreach.

The submissions also raise a breach of natural justice. Daubney said neither applicant was given a fair chance to respond to the allegations.

Those findings, he said, touched on professional conduct and integrity. They were made without notice.

He also pointed to the conduct of the inquiry. He said it created at least the appearance of bias.

The challenge extends to the report’s publication. Daubney argued the Prime Minister recommended its release without ensuring the applicants had been heard.

He said that the step should have been weighed under Section 16 of the Constitution.

The result, he argued, was the release of material said to be defamatory.

That, he said, underpins the applicants’ claims for damage to reputation and financial loss.

At its core, the case turns on three issues. Whether the inquiry exceeded its mandate. Whether fairness was denied and whether the findings can stand.

The hearing will resume at 2.30 pm before High Court judge Justice Dane Tuiqereqere.

These hearing submissions on this matter are expected to continue until Sunday.