An adjudicator who decides a payment dispute on a basis not contended by either party, without affording the parties an opportunity to make submissions on that basis, commits jurisdictional error by denying natural justice, rendering the entire adjudication decision void. The common law doctrine of severance cannot apply to sever the invalid part of an adjudication decision under BCIPA (Qld) because the statutory scheme provides for only one adjudicated amount with no mechanism for partial invalidity. The Victorian Act's provisions for partial invalidity (ss 10B, 23(2A), 23(2B)) do not have equivalents in BCIPA.
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