Hunter's Hill Council v Minister for Local Government; Lane Cove Council v Minister for Local Government; Mosman Municipal Counil v Minister for Local Government; North Sydney Council v Minister for Local Government; Strathfield Municipal Council v Minister for Local Government

[2017] NSWCA 188

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Local Government
2. › Amalgamation of local government areas
3. › Validity of proposal
4. › Whether proposed merged area constitutes 'a single area of contiguous land'
5. › Areas separated by river connected by bridge
6. › Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), ss 204(3), 205(3)
1. Words and Phrases
2. › 'Contiguous'
3. › Whether local government areas separated by river constitute 'a single area of contiguous land'
4. › Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), s 204(3)
1. Administrative Law
2. › Procedural fairness
3. › Non-disclosure of documents
4. › Examination of proposal to amalgamate local government areas
5. › Whether undisclosed underlying financial analysis constituted adverse material requiring disclosure
6. › Whether councils had fair opportunity to make submissions without access to withheld documents
7. › Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), ss 218F, 263
1. Administrative Law
2. › Mandatory considerations
3. › Constructive failure to exercise statutory function
4. › Delegate's examination of merger proposal
5. › Whether delegate failed to consider financial advantages and disadvantages
6. › Whether delegate exercised independent judgment
7. › Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), s 263(3)(a)

Quick Take

Local government areas separated by a river (or other non-contiguous feature) cannot be amalgamated under s 204(3) of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) because they do not constitute 'a single area of contiguous land'. A delegate examining a merger proposal must exercise independent judgment on the financial advantages and disadvantages under s 263(3)(a), not merely summarise the Minister's claims. However, procedural fairness does not necessarily require disclosure of underlying working papers and preliminary assessments where affected parties have access to sufficient publicly available information to make informed submissions on the financial projections.