Declaratory relief under s 456 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (Qld) cannot be used to review the merits of a council's infrastructure charges decision; such proceedings are analogous to judicial review and are confined to whether the decision was validly made. Where a statutory appeal right exists under s 478, failure to exercise that right is a powerful factor against the grant of declaratory relief. A development approval should be construed by reference to its own terms and documents expressly or by necessary implication incorporated into it; a planning report accompanying a development application is not incorporated merely because it accompanied the application. Morrison JA's dissent provides a detailed analysis of when the principle of incorporation by necessary implication applies to development approvals.
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