An adjudicator who decides a payment claim dispute on a contractual interpretation basis that neither party has argued denies natural justice, and the resulting decision is liable to be set aside. The limited finality of adjudication decisions under the building and construction payment legislation does not support the full common law doctrine of issue estoppel binding parties in subsequent adjudications; at most, it precludes a claimant from pursuing a progress payment inconsistently with a previous adjudicator's determination. An adjudicator's error in interpreting a construction contract is ordinarily not a jurisdictional error.
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