Cavanagh v Chief Executive Officer (Housing)

[2018] NTSC 52

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Leases and Tenancies
2. › Public housing
3. › Aboriginal land
4. › Remote Indigenous housing
5. › Periodic tenancy created during Commonwealth intervention lease
6. › Whether tenancy subsisted despite expiry of head lease and substitution of landlords
7. › Whether tenancy terminated by operation of law upon expiry of superior interest
8. › Residential Tenancies Act 1999 (NT), ss 4, 82, 89, 107, 122
9. › Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth), ss 31, 35, 59
1. Leases and Tenancies
2. › Public housing
3. › Aboriginal land
4. › Interaction of statutory regimes
5. › Whether subsistence of tenancy under Residential Tenancies Act repugnant to Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth)
6. › Whether Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth) overrides Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth)
7. › Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth), ss 19, 74
1. Courts and Tribunals
2. › Jurisdiction
3. › Implied jurisdiction
4. › Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal
5. › Whether tribunal has implied jurisdiction to determine equitable defence of estoppel
6. › Implied power to determine matters reasonably necessary for exercise of expressly conferred jurisdiction
7. › Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2014 (NT), ss 8, 30, 31, 32
8. › Residential Tenancies Act 1999 (NT), s 122

Quick Take

A periodic tenancy created under the Residential Tenancies Act 1999 (NT) during the Commonwealth's five-year intervention lease under the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 (Cth) survives the expiry of that lease and continues by operation of the Residential Tenancies Act, provided it has not been terminated under the Act. The Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act overrides s 19 of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth), so no repugnancy arises. The NTCAT has implied jurisdiction to determine equitable estoppel defences raised in response to counter-claims under s 122 of the Residential Tenancies Act.