Ivanovic v Mullungeen Pty Ltd

[2026] NSWSC 1119

Supreme Court of NSW

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

1. ADMINISTRATIVE LAW — judicial review — Appeal Panel of Personal Injury Commission — whether Panel took into account irrelevant considerations — whether Panel exceeded the jurisdiction conferred by s 328(2) of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW) by providing a new diagnosis and reassessing whole person impairment — whether procedural fairness was denied by not giving the plaintiff an opportunity to respond to the new diagnosis and WPI assessment — whether the Panel failed to provide a collective decision

Where an Appeal Panel under s 328 of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW) conducts a fresh diagnostic assessment and PIRS rating that were not within the grounds of appeal, procedural fairness requires that the parties be notified of the new diagnosis and rating and given an opportunity to make further submissions before a certificate issues, even if Pombinho permits the Panel to undertake such a reassessment.
Mis-categorisation of conduct between PIRS scales by an Appeal Panel, as distinct from a delegate's gateway decision under s 327(4), does not constitute jurisdictional error susceptible to judicial review; Ballas v Department of Education (NSW) is confined to the different statutory context of the delegate's function in assessing whether a ground is capable of constituting demonstrable error.
An Appeal Panel's statement of reasons that incorporates and endorses the examination report of one medical assessor member does not, without more, give rise to a compelling inference that the Panel failed to make a collective decision; adoption or agreement with a report implies that consideration was given to it.