Greyhound Racing NSW v Cessnock & District Agricultural Association

[2006] NSWCA 333

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Administrative Law
2. › Procedural fairness
3. › Content of obligation
4. › Statutory body with industry-representative membership
5. › Allocation of racing dates
6. › Whether reasonable opportunity to make submissions
7. › Whether failure to identify decision-making criteria constituted denial of procedural fairness
8. › Greyhound Racing Act 2002 (NSW), s 9(2)(d)
1. Administrative Law
2. › Procedural fairness
3. › Staged decision-making process
4. › Whether procedural unfairness in preliminary decision infected operative decision
5. › Whether fair procedures at later stage cured earlier deficiency
6. › Identification of operative decision
1. Administrative Law
2. › Procedural fairness
3. › Apprehended bias
4. › Statutory administrative decision-maker
5. › Application of general law bias principles to statutory body with industry-representative membership
6. › Whether statutory scheme displaced or modified bias rule
7. › Greyhound Racing Act 2002 (NSW), Sch 1, cls 10, 11, 12
1. Administrative Law
2. › Procedural fairness
3. › Obligation to disclose adverse material
4. › Submissions by competing party
5. › Whether submissions in support of competing interest required to be disclosed
6. › Kioa v West (1985) 159 CLR 550

Quick Take

General law principles of procedural fairness do not require a statutory decision-maker to disclose the criteria it intends to apply in making decisions, and the obligation to disclose adverse material does not extend to submissions by competing parties that say nothing about the affected party. Where a statutory body is constituted with industry-representative members, the statutory scheme may be inconsistent with a finding of apprehended bias based merely on members' associations with affected parties. In staged decision-making processes, procedural fairness is to be assessed by reference to the operative decision, and fair procedures at a later stage can render the whole process fair even if earlier stages were deficient.