---
title: "Build a New South Wales chronology where a permanent stay is in prospect"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/build-a-missing-witness-and-missing-records-chronology-where-a-stay-is-i/new-south-wales"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A21-AB20261023-6-NSW"
practice_area: "Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["NSW"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-25"
---

# Build a New South Wales chronology where a permanent stay is in prospect

> From the documents the lawyer selects, build a dated table of complaints, surviving records, lost records and unavailable witnesses. Every row needs a document.…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/build-a-missing-witness-and-missing-records-chronology-where-a-stay-is-i/new-south-wales  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-25

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | From the documents the lawyer selects, build a dated table of complaints, surviving records, lost records and unavailable witnesses. Every row needs a document. Do not say whether a stay should be granted, and do not treat the High Court summary as the reasons. |
| What the lawyer must review | Decide whether a fair trial is still possible. Read the GLJ summary with the reasons. Treat the permanent stay described there as a last resort, and only in the context of s 6A. Do not read the guiding principles as stopping a stay application. Keep the file in the firm's system. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply. |
| Written for | New South Wales |
| Applies to | [Build a missing-witness and missing-records chronology where a stay is in prospect](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/build-a-missing-witness-and-missing-records-chronology-where-a-stay-is-i.md) |

## Checking plan

**Verify against sources**

The lawyer decides the fair-trial question. The tool builds a source-tagged chronology.

- What the AI does: From the documents the lawyer selects, build a dated table of complaints, surviving records, lost records and unavailable witnesses. Every row needs a document. Do not say whether a stay should be granted, and do not treat the High Court summary as the reasons.
- What the lawyer does: Make the legal assessment, check the source material and authorise the output for its intended use.
- Who reviews: Lawyer competent in this practice area
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 23 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Checks the lawyer makes

1. Section 6A(6) preserves a permanent stay where delay has a burdensome effect so serious that a fair trial is not possible.
2. In GLJ the High Court, by majority, allowed an appeal from a stay granted by the Court of Appeal. The summary says a permanent stay is a measure of last resort, evaluated in the context of s 6A, for a trial that will be necessarily unfair or so unfairly and unjustifiably oppressive as to be an abuse of process. The decision is not discretionary.
3. The guiding principles say agencies may not rely on a limitation defence, and that this does not affect a stay application. They are described as binding, and as applied flexibly.
4. The summary says it is not a substitute for the reasons. Do not draft the response to a stay.

## Notes

- Do not cite GLJ as a decision on a Victorian or Queensland stay section. The summary decides an appeal from New South Wales in the context of s 6A.
- If this is used in a Supreme Court document, read Practice Note SC Gen 23. The Court's page records amendments that came into effect on 3 February 2025. The note itself was not opened, so no clause is quoted.
- Records on this file stay in a firm-controlled tool. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply, and a breach may be notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

## Practical guide

Jurisdiction: New South Wales. The court hearing any stay application.

**Deliverable**: A source-tagged chronology of complaints, surviving records, lost records and unavailable witnesses.

**Inputs**

- Complaint documents
- Record-holding letters
- Evidence of death or unavailability
- Whether the defendant is a State agency

**Example**: Illustrative example: The alleged abuser died before the claim was issued, and a letter lists two surviving witnesses. The tool dates the death and the letter. It does not say the stay must fail because s 6A removed the limitation period.

**Stop and escalate when**

- A row has no document.
- The tool is asked to draft the response, or to treat the summary as the reasons.

Checked 2026-10-23.

## Sources

- [Limitation Act 1969 (NSW) s 6A](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/la1969133/s6a.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [High Court judgment summary, GLJ 2023 HCA 32](https://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/publications/judgment-summaries/2023/hca-32-2023-11-01.pdf) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [NSW guiding principles for agencies responding to civil claims for child abuse](https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/documents/legal-and-justice/lsc/nsw-government-guiding-principles-for-government-agencies-responding-to-civil-claims-for-child-abuse.pdf) (checked 2026-10-23)

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*