The Tribunal ordered transfer of the anti-discrimination complaint to the Magistrates Court of Tasmania under s 131(2) of the TASCAT Act, on the basis that there was doubt as to whether the Tribunal had jurisdiction given the complainant's relocation from Tasmania to mainland Australia during the proceedings. Although both parties submitted that jurisdiction should be assessed at the date of referral to the Tribunal (when the complainant was a Tasmanian resident), the Tribunal held that the complainant's subsequent departure from Tasmania and current interstate residence created sufficient doubt about federal jurisdiction — applying Burns v Corbett and the diversity principles from Howe and Shuttleworth — to warrant transfer rather than risk wrongly asserting jurisdiction. The question of whether a change in residency after commencement but before final determination defeats tribunal jurisdiction remains unresolved by any superior court, and the Tribunal expressly declined to finally determine it, preferring the prudent course of transfer to a court of competent jurisdiction.
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