The Court held that a contractual deeming provision which treats an early progress claim as having been made on the contractually specified date (the 20th of each month) does not create or shift the reference date for the purposes of s 8 of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW). The reference date remains the date fixed by the contract (here, the 20th), and a payment claim served before that date is not supported by a reference date, rendering any adjudication determination based on it void for jurisdictional error. The Court also held that UCPR r 59.10(1)'s three-month time limit did not apply where the plaintiff sought only declaratory relief and did not press for certiorari, because r 59.10(5) excludes proceedings in which 'the setting aside of a decision is not required'.
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