A local government does not owe a common law duty of care to individual landowners to process town planning scheme amendments, even after the amendment process has been initiated and even after Ministerial approval, because the making and amending of town planning schemes is a quasi-legislative function performed for the collective good. The tort of misfeasance in public office requires actual knowledge of want of power, not merely confusion about legal obligations, and councillors acting on legal advice throughout a dispute with the Minister will not be found to have the requisite mental element. The question whether unpaid elected councillors are 'public officers' for the purposes of the tort was raised but not determined.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 6 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 6 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.