Minister for Education v Klein

[2005] WASCA 185

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Workers' Compensation
2. › Deemed employer
3. › Principal and contractor
4. › Whether public authority a deemed employer under s 175
5. › Trade or business of public authority
6. › Meaning and effect of deeming provision in s 6
7. › Whether all statutory powers and duties constitute trade or business
8. › Whether distinction between core and ancillary functions applicable
9. › Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 1981 (WA), ss 6, 175
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Reopening of unperfected judgment
3. › Application to recall judgment of intermediate appellate court
4. › Whether party denied opportunity to be heard on decisive issue
5. › Whether concession made by opposing counsel
6. › Whether further submissions would change result

Quick Take

For the purposes of s 175 of the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 1981 (WA), the 'trade or business' of a public authority includes anything the authority lawfully does in the exercise of its statutory powers and duties, without any distinction between core and ancillary functions. This significantly broadens the scope of deemed employment under s 175 for workers engaged by contractors to public authorities. The word 'directly' in s 175(3) may have limited independent operation in the public authority context. An intermediate appellate court may reopen an unperfected judgment where a party has been denied procedural fairness, but the power must be exercised with great caution.