A statutory requirement that a tribunal be constituted in a particular manner is jurisdictional, not merely procedural, and the Project Blue Sky framework for assessing the consequences of non-compliance with statutory conditions does not apply to such requirements. Where a tribunal is improperly constituted at the hearing, the subsequent determination is invalid even if the tribunal would have been properly constituted at the time of determination under amended legislation, unless the statute expressly or impliedly provides otherwise. Transitional provisions preserving pre-amendment requirements for undetermined proceedings extend to costs applications that form part of the substantive proceeding.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 9 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 9 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.