Speirs v Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales & Anor

(2011) 81 NSWLR 348; [2011] NSWCA 206

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Administrative Law
2. › Jurisdictional error
3. › Tribunal misapprehending its own jurisdiction
4. › Denial of jurisdiction to determine necessary element of claim
5. › Whether error was jurisdictional error or error of law on face of record
6. › Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW), s 69
1. Workers Compensation
2. › Reinstatement of injured workers
3. › Jurisdiction of Industrial Relations Commission
4. › Whether Commission had jurisdiction to determine entitlement to compensation for purposes of reinstatement application
5. › Whether exclusive jurisdiction of District Court or Workers Compensation Commission precluded determination
6. › Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), ss 240(2), 241, 242, 243
7. › Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), s 105
1. Workers Compensation
2. › Entitlement to compensation
3. › Meaning of 'entitled to receive compensation'
4. › Whether entitlement requires tribunal or court determination
5. › Whether entitlement subsists as legal right upon happening of injury
6. › Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), ss 4, 9, 9A, 240(2)
1. Statutory Interpretation
2. › Construction of related statutes as a whole
3. › Harmonious construction of overlapping jurisdictional provisions
4. › Effect of 'Subject to this Act' in distributing exclusive jurisdiction
5. › Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), s 105

Quick Take

A worker's entitlement to receive compensation under s 240(2) of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 subsists as a legal right upon the happening of the injury and does not require determination by the Workers Compensation Commission or District Court. The Industrial Relations Commission has jurisdiction to determine that entitlement as part of exercising its reinstatement power under s 242. A reinstatement application under Part 8 is not a 'coal miner matter' within s 105(4A) of the WIM Act, even where the worker was employed in or about a mine.