Secretary to the Department of Justice & Regulation v O U X

[2018] VSCA 178

Victorian Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Administrative Law
2. › Judicial review
3. › Review of tribunal decisions
4. › Questions of law
5. › Standard of scrutiny of tribunal reasons
6. › Whether reasons to be construed minutely with eye keenly attuned to perception of error
7. › Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic), s 148
1. Administrative Law
2. › Working with Children Act 2005 (Vic)
3. › Category A application
4. › Assessment notice
5. › Unjustifiable risk to safety of children
6. › Whether VCAT separately considered s 26A(4)(b) 'any type of child-related work test'
7. › Whether conflation with or subsumption within 'reasonable person test' in s 26A(4)(a)
8. › Whether error could have influenced outcome
9. › Working with Children Act 2005 (Vic), ss 26A(3), 26A(4), 26A(5)

Quick Take

The criteria in s 26A(4)(a) and (b) of the Working with Children Act 2005 (Vic) substantially overlap, and it is difficult to envisage a case where satisfaction of the 'reasonable person test' in s 26A(4)(a) would not also comprehend satisfaction of the 'any type of child-related work test' in s 26A(4)(b). A tribunal's failure to separately address s 26A(4)(b) under a distinct heading will not constitute an error of law where the substance of the finding is discernible from the reasons read as a whole.