The Court held that termination of a construction contract for convenience under a clause equivalent to AS4902-2000 cl 39A gives rise to a fresh reference date under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW), departing from Ball J in Patrick Stevedores and Darke J in Omega House on the basis that the High Court's decision in Southern Han, combined with the expanded statutory definition of 'progress payment', supports treating the post-termination contractual payment entitlement as generating a statutory progress payment entitlement. The Court also held that under s 15, where no payment schedule is served, the court may only enter judgment for the full 'claimed amount' and cannot undertake its own assessment of which components of the claim fall within the Act — meaning a respondent's failure to serve a payment schedule precludes it from arguing that part of the claim is non-claimable. On the supporting statement issue, the Court found no contravention of s 13(7) was established where the statement substantially complied with the prescribed form, and declined to resolve the broader question of whether non-compliance would invalidate the payment claim.
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